·         Minutes of Plenary Meeting on 21.12.2020

·         Minutes of Special Meeting on 01.02.2021

On the PROPOSAL of Cllr. Cummins

            SECONDED by Cllr. Shanagher

It was AGREED to adopt the minutes of the Plenary Meeting of 21.12.2020.

On the PROPOSAL of Cllr. Ward

            SECONDED by Cllr. Leyden

It was AGREED to adopt the minutes of the Special Plenary Meeting of 01.02.2021

There were no matters arising.

·         Management Report December 2020

·         Management Report January 2021

·         Management Report for December 2020 noted

·         Management Report for January 2021 noted.

The Cathaoirleach addressed the meeting regarding the recent and ongoing crisis situation for families affected by the record flood levels at Lough Funshinagh and the immediate need to find a solution. This has been an ongoing problem since 2015 and had gone from flooding 600 acres to 1200 acres and the water level is now 550mm higher than at its highest point and 1.54m higher than this day last year. Thanks to the ongoing work of Roscommon County Council, flood waters have been prevented from accessing up to five houses, but it is getting more difficult to keep the water at bay. The families are under severe mental and financial stress and a solution must be finalised as soon as possible as time is of the essence.

The Chief Executive acknowledged the serious hardship being experienced by the families around Lough Funshinagh. The deteriorating situation has defied the theory that this flooding is of a cyclical nature. It is important that the elected members and the community have a clear understanding of what is being proposed and what can be done by the Council in partnership with other stakeholders.

Mr. Shane Tiernan presented a report to the meeting on the matter:

·         Acknowledged that the rainfall of the last number of years have raised the flood level to unprecedented levels causing havoc and stress to the community affected with houses and farms under siege.

·         Roscommon County Council have worked to raise roads and prevent flood water reaching the living area of any home.

·         Various plans and proposals in recent weeks have been mooted regarding pumping but it is not an option

·         As this is a designated SAC, it further complicates a final solution. It is also a European Natura 200 site with a sensitive natural environment where vegetation and wildlife may be negatively affected by any construction project and as such is subject to a Part 8 Planning process that is required to go directly to an An Bord Pleanála for a decision.

·         Discussions have taken place between Roscommon County Council, OPW, NPW, Dept. of Agriculture, and the GSI and progress has been made to designing and advancing to planning a significant capital project to resolve the problem

·         The identified solution will have to follow a process including appropriate data collection and a perfected planning application. It will respect engineering principles, to drain off excess levels from the lake as they occur.

·         The estimated timelines of the planning and design work to progress to planning submission is 24 months as extensive surveys and assessments are required.

·         Roscommon County Council have actively undertaken protective measures in various locations affected including localised pumping, raising of a number of roads and installation of flood barriers, rick armour and supports.  Further works will be assessed in the summer season when it is hoped water levels will have reduced considerably.

The Elected Members discussed the matter as follows:

·         Thanks to Roscommon County Council for the works done to date and information supplied.

·         Disappointment that works have  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.21

Mr. Joe Lavin from National Broadband Ireland gave a presentation to the members on the National Broadband Plan Project as follows:

·         The aim of the programme is to ensure every premises has access to high speed broadband – NBI have been contracted to build a full fibre network to connect 544,000k premises.

·         The project includes utilisation of 1.466m poles and 143,384km of cabling and world leading technologies to futureproof the network. While using existing infrastructure where possible to create sustainable and cost effective deployment. Customers will receive up to 1Gps with minimum speed of 500Mbps.

·         Surveying is continuing nationally and back on track following delays due to the pandemic and build works will be initiated in all 26 counties in 2021. This is a seven year programme.

·         There are 227 Deployment Areas (DA) across the country facilitating 194 local exchanges, 33 Regional Exchanges which will all connect to Data Centres mostly based in Dublin. The NBI is currently actively working across 60 DA’s. Regional Exchanges will be built first– this is to ensure that there is a solid backhaul network connection to the data centres and the deployment area is 20km in radius

·         There are 19,126 premises in Roscommon identified as without access to High Speed Broadband  representing 49% of the total premises in the county. The NBI investment in the county is approx. €75m.

·         There are 5 Regional Exchanges to serve Roscommon – Ballinasloe, Roscommon, Athlone, Carrick on Shannon and Longford.

Roscommon DA– 2,993 premises, Build Underway, Est. date for connections July 2021 – Sept 2021

Carrick on Shannon DA– 2,042 premises; Survey complete; Est. date for connection May 2022- July 2022

Ballinasloe DA : 668 premises; Build underway; Est dates for connection June 2021 – Aug 2021

Athlone DA – 623 premises; Survey Complete; Est. Date for connection Apr 2022 – June 2022

·         There are 17 Deployment Areas that make up the County Roscommon rollout area.

·         Broadband Connection Points (BCP) will provide free high speed internet access with many offering remote capabilities – 270+ will be rolled out nationally.

·         8 BCP locations and 32 schools in Roscommon are in scope to connect to high-speed broadband. Seven of the eight BCPs are live in Roscommon with one in progress. One school is live with the remainder in planning phase.

·         Local Authorities, community groups and representative bodies are involved with stakeholder engagement with NBI. There are no live events at present – all consultation is done online.

·         A dedicated point of contact for Public Representatives to get in touch with NBI is reps@nbi.ie and is live Monday to Saturday.

The Members welcomed the presentation and progress to date in Roscommon and had a number of queries for Mr. Lavin:

·         When will there be updates on the grey areas

·         If a premises is not on the list, why not?

·         How many premises will be connected in 1 year.

·         The Monksland area of Athlone is less than a mile from a Regional exchange but the current service from Eir is not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.21

·         Lease of Boyle Courthouse

On the PROPOSAL of Councillor Cummins

SECONDED by Councillor Byrne

It was AGREED that the Council consent to the lease of property pursuant to the provisions of Article 206 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001, Section 211 of the Planning and Development Act, 2000 (as amended) and Section 183 of the Local Government Act, 2001 of particulars of property which it is proposed to lease at the location in County Roscommon and to the persons set out in the schedule hereunder.  Particulars of the property which the County Council proposes to lease:

The Property:  Lands/Building at Termon Td. Boyle, Co Roscommon

The person(s) to whom the land is to be leased to : Boyle Courthouse Development CLG, Boyle., Co. Roscommon

The consideration proposed in respect of the lease: €500/annum for period 12^th August 2015 to 11^th August 2018 and 100/annum from 12^th August 2018

Term of Lease: 20 years from 12^th August 2015

·         Resolution 110.20 dated 23^rd November 2020:

        Site Comprising 0.14 Ha at Killapogue Td. Croghan, Boyle, Co. Roscommon

On the PROPOSAL of Cllr. Murphy

SECONDED by Cllr. Callaghan

It was AGREED that Roscommon County Council does hereby rescind in its entirety its resolution dated 23^rd November 2020 which approved the disposal of land of 0.14ha in the townland of Killappoge, Boyle, Co. Roscommon to Anthony Beirne, Portabello, Croghan, Boyle, Co. Roscommon.

·         0.14 Ha in the Townland of Killappoge, Barony of Boyle, Co. Roscommon

the PROPOSAL of Councillor Cummins

SECONDED by Councillor Callaghan

It was AGREED that the Council consent to the disposal of property pursuant to the provisions of Article 206 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001, Section 211 of the Planning and Development Act, 2000 (as amended) and Section 183 of the Local Government Act, 2001 of particulars of property which it is proposed to dispose of at the location in County Roscommon and to the persons set out in the schedule hereunder.  Particulars of the property which the County Council proposes to dispose:

The Property:  0.14hA under Folio RN41223FF Plan 15A in the Townland of Killappoge, Barony of Boyle, Co. Roscommon

The person(s) from whom the land was acquired: Anthony Lee

The person(s) to whom the land is to be disposed of: Anthony Lee

The consideration proposed in respect of the disposal: €7,250

On the PROPOSAL of Cllr. Callaghan

SECONDED by Cllr. Fitzmaurice

It was AGREED to appoint the following nominees from the PPN to the Local Community Development Committee (LCDC):

It was further AGREED that Muireann Boyles, representing the Brothers of Charity replace Jody Healy on the LCDC.

·         Congratulations to Dan O’ Brien and Liam Casey from Lindan Designs, Roscommon on their great achievement at the National Enterprise Awards. Lindan Designs won the Future Focus Award.  

·         Congratulations to Cllr. Donal Kilduff and his partner Aga on the birth of their daughter Emilia Mae in December.