·         Lough Funshinagh: The Chief Executive stated he had intended to give an update on Lough Funshinagh but the RTE Prime Time Programme last Thursday set out everyone’s position on the situation including the difficulties for the local community and he has nothing further to add at this time.

·         Housing Award; Roscommon County Council’s new housing development  at Cluain Faoigh, Lanesboro Road, Roscommon won the category prize of ‘Housing for Families’ small projects at the ICSH Allianz Biennial Community Housing Awards. The Awards showcases innovative and sustainable social housing projects that Approved Housing Bodies and Local Authorities deliver for communities across the country. The Chief Executive commended all of the housing staff for their contribution to this scheme and their success. The Cathaoirleach on behalf of the Members congratulated all involved in the project.

·         Municipal District Area Offices: Cllr. Crosby asked the Chief Executive if he would be making an announcement with regard to the status of the Strokestown, Castlerea and Ballaghaderreen Area Offices. The Chief Executive confirmed that a report was presented to the Corporate Policy Group this morning on  recent audit of the Municipal District Area offices and that three of the offices have been closed to the public for the past 18 months due to Covid.

The Director of Services Mr. Shane Tiernan informed the members that the Audit Report will be presented to the next Audit Committee meeting. The Auditor completed a detailed report solely on the administrative workflow including timesheets and payments. This was carried out in the six-month period prior to Covid (March 2020) and a total of 21 recommendations were made. The report found that 82% of the work of the area office is back office work, and footfall accounts for less than one person per day.

The Council must consolidate the administrative functions of the area offices and therefore cannot guarantee offices to be open every day.  There is a continued focus on progressing Digital Transformation using online services. There is also very limited money being collected in the offices and there are no protections in place for staff dealing with money in some of the offices. In addition, there is as continued focus on remote working and there would be a substantial investment in health and safety measures required in some of the offices.  The Boyle, Roscommon and Athlone offices would continue to be open to public but the other three offices closed but with technical staff remaining to work there.

In response the Cathaoirleach expressed his disappointment at the proposal to close three of the area offices to the public because once the offices are closed they will never reopen. Some people need face to face interaction with staff to carry out their business and to take this away would be a big blow to some people.

The elected members all spoke on the issue and supported the Cathaoirleach.

·         This is a retrograde step – for example people living in Mount Delvin are 50km from Roscommon town which will be their nearest office.

·         There is still a large proportion of the population that is not up to date on technology

·         When Covid came, it was difficult to get through to area offices as the calls were diverted to HQ.

·         All services should at the very least be provided in the local libraries

·         The area offices should have been invested in years ago to make the fit for purpose

·         This is a very sad day for Roscommon County Council as we are sending a bad message to our small local communities – this is the start of closing all area offices.

·         Want a guarantee that area offices will not close completely. The Council is down engineering staff in the Boyle Rea in and Castlerea. The big towns will survive but the small ones will not and this decision should be reversed

·         All of these towns and villages are paying tax and have reducing services.

·         Are figures available for cost savings?

·         Statistics can be presented in any way to make any case you want but you must remember the disenfranchised.

·         Footfall is a loss to a small town.

·         The area staff are so helpful to the people in the local area and it’s not fair on them – there is no need to change what’s working.

·         Phones diverted to HQ for area matters is not working.

·         We cannot have a disconnect between Roscommon County Council and the people of the county.

·         The terms of reference for the Audit Report should be circulated to councillors.

·         The Bank of Ireland in Elphin is closing on 7^th October and this is another blow to the local community.

·         The area office is the first point of contact for people with Roscommon county with a local problem and while an online system for complaints is in place there is not always follow up. Statistics are one thing – reality is different.

·         It is sad to think that as a Local Authority we are centralising services when as local politicians we want decentralisation.

·         Town and Village renewal means people want services and need them – we should be able to see the value in our local offices.

·         Even accepting that the pandemic forces a lot of services online and in many cases quite successfully, there is still a considerable proportion of the population left behind because they are unable to use of have access.

On the PROPOSAL of Cllr. Crosby

SECONDED by Cllr. Murphy

It was AGREED hat a small group of public representatives form a working group to look at this proposal.

The Chief Executive replied that he flagged the move to Digital Transformation three years ago. In the past 18 months the Council were able to look after everyone through the community forum and digital transformation projects and the improvements to broadband infrastructure facilitated this. At the presentation of the draft annual budget, it is stated that services are provided efficiently and we strive to spend money in the most efficient way possible. Modernisation will continue and we have scarce and busy human resources that must provide services in the best way possible. There is no hidden agenda and members are welcome to set up a working group. This is a good news story where we are creating efficiencies and Staff will be assigned where they are most effective and it is not envisaged that there will ever be a time when there will be no technical staff in area offices.