Here are two links to scary stories about Local Government incompetence in Clare County Council Planning Department. Both relate to maladministration that has already (or probably will) cost the Council huge amounts of money it does not have.

The first story relates to a further information request on a Planning application. When the information was lodged, it was never logged by the Council leading ot a refusal and Judicial Review by Applicants. Que a High Court settlement of €650,000 against council .

The second relates to anther administrative mess-up, where Applicants very altruistically re-lodged a Planning Application after it was granted by default, as the Council had made no official changes or comments. A Senior Council Employee told Councillors they could not be told about any deal made on re-lodging the Application and were shut out of the process until pressure lead to  a behind-closed-doors meeting where the information was divulged. Apparently this case is one of a series in which information has been removed or altered.

When I worked at a legal office, the prospect of a Judicial Review was all that kept us going on bad days. The administrative mistake of some Public Authority, where we'd seek almost undreamt-of figures for damages (and of course significant fees) was the basis of many parties. The targeted Public Authority (in this case the Refugee Appeals Tribunal or Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner) had to get very smart, very quickly to tighten its procedures or there would be huge budgetary outlays on Judicial Reviews. This they did, they brought lawyers into every facet of their operation, and JRs slowed to a trickle. This occoured with leadership from a strong Minister (Michael McDowell). Now, it has to be asked where is the strong leadership needed to head off this debilitating drain on local resources? These mess-up have been going on for years in Clare County Council. And now the Management is denying our elected Councillors access to basic information!

Another link here to the Garry Miley Planning Dispatch, where he quotes a letter from Clare Planning Agents (those who lodge Applications on behalf of others), listing 12 major difficulties which include inconsistencies between planners, lack of internal communication, mistakes in technical reports etc.


This bodes ill for the Minister for the Environment's Reform of Local Government, currently at Green Paper stage. The proposal for directly-elected Mayors is welcome, but before any Mayors are elected, there needs to be a strong and definite chain-of-command structure put in place in Local Government so that whoever is in charge (Manager or Mayor) has absolute authority from the start. Similar to the situation in London where the Mayor controls Police, transport etc.  but unlike the previous proposal from Minister Noel Dempsey, which proposed directly-elected Mayors with the powers of the current Mayors - a ludicrous ubworkable suggestion (that I'm glad Jackie Healy-Rae torpeoded. Local Governmetn can contribute so much to the happiness of it's citizens, but not if it's consistantly paying out large amount of it's budget in legal fees.

(some small editing and additions 16/05/08 & addition of 2nd last paragrpah on 19/05/08)

How the typical Irish Mayor is viewed

(credit: The Simpsons)

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