A LOCAL Councillor has criticised his fellow councillors for not attending a recent meeting in Dungarvan.
At the June plenary meeting of Waterford City & County Council, a lengthy discussion took place in relation to housing.
A number of councillors spent considerable time raising housing related issues including the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme.
After listening to his fellow councillors, Cllr Damien Geoghegan (FG) highlighted that only five councillors out of 32 attended a seminar on housing which took place in Dungarvan the previous week.
A number of senior department officials were in attendance at the training session, which was organised by the Association of Irish Local Government
Cllr Damien Geoghegan said Councillors had an opportunity to express their views but chose not to attend, describing this as “unacceptable”.
“There’s no bigger issue in the large urban centres at the moment than housing,” he said.
Cllr Geoghegan said many of his fellow councillors spent time during many Council meetings asking the council to write letters to the Minister in relation to housing.
He expressed his dismay that councillors would ignore a local meeting on housing in which high ranking officials were in attendance.
Along with Cllr Geoghegan, also in attendance at the event were Cllr Siobhan Whelan (SF), Cllr Tom Cronin (FF), Cllr John Pratt (Lab) and Cllr John O’Leary (FF).
Cllr Geoghegan said he understood Mayor of Waterford City & County Council Cllr James Tobin had a family bereavement.
He said he was disappointed that no councillors from Waterford City or Tramore were in attendance.
