They say all politics is local, but in Renmore, councillors are at daggers drawn over a small strip of footpath.
In May this year, worn pavement from Duggan’s Spar shop up to near the Full Duck Café on Renmore Road was re-laid, with fresh kerbing installed along approximately 100m of roadway.
First time Fine Gael councillor, Shane Forde, immediately issued a statement about how keen he had been to “deliver” this project, and how “delighted” he was at its completion, alongside new benches for the leafy neighbourhood.
It was, however, his charge that “Previous elected council representatives have failed in my opinion to deliver on projects such as this,” that really upset the apple cart in Galway City East.
As the Galway Advertiser reported at the time, long-serving councillors Declan McDonnell (Ind ) and Terry O’Flaherty (Ind ) were not impressed with this dig, nor was veteran councillor Alan Cheevers (FF ), alongside constituency newcomers Helen Ogbu (Lab ) and Aisling Burke (SF ).
And that is where the issue rested, until new pavement surfacing in Renmore began this week, and Cllr O’Flaherty decided to correct the record with figures she has obtained from Galway City Council’s roads department.
They show Councillor Forde contributed €10,700 of his Local Improvement Scheme (LIS ) allocation to resurfacing Renmore Road paths, while €55,000 came from the council’s Local Property Tax (LPT )-funded Footpath Investment and Repair Fund.
A 15 per cent increase in LPT to fund local improvements was approved by councillors in October, although Cllr Forde voted against it. Officials report councillors across the city agreed amongst themselves not to claim plaudits for this most local of improvements, but the “gentleman’s agreement” in City East has not held.
A further €27,772 left over in City East’s Footpath Investment and Repair Fund is being used to resurface more pavement in Renmore this week, and there was a meeting of local councillors yesterday, Wednesday, July 23, to discuss.
It will be interesting to see how “gentle” the statements are next week, or will the political cracks in the east ward be paved over too?
