*Waterpark House.
ADEQUATE room does not exist at present to accommodate a designated public counter for Ennis Municipal District councillors to deal with constituents at the Buttermarket building in Drumbiggle.
Formerly the home of Ennis Town Council, space is “at a premium” in Waterpark House, senior executive engineer in Clare County Council, Seán Lenihan informed the January meeting of the Ennis MD.
This followed a request from Cllr Mary Howard (FG) for elected representatives to have a designated office at Waterpark House. She stated, “Each other MD has their own designated MD offices. I am requesting that we provide for a public desk to be available at this building (Buttermarket Building) for our constituents convenience, I believe it is appropriate to have a public office at this location”.
She also suggested that councillors should be permitted entry to the offices via a fob or swipe card. “When I spoke to the other councillors, they all have public desks, within their areas, there is one in Shannon, Ennistymon, Scariff, you know, and that kind of got me thinking that should we not have something similar in our own county town”.
Support was voiced by Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy (FF). “It would be a great move for us as an MD, especially when we have to deal with constituents. It may be quite beneficial, if at all possible”.
In the opinion of Cllr. Tom O’Callaghan (FF) having an office will improve public interaction and increase individual satisfaction levels, whilst Cllr. Johnny Flynn (FG) said “a public desk, I think would be important. I think it would be very beneficial to our elderly customers, and people who don’t have access to a car within Ennis, a public counter would be ideal”.
Lenihan informed Cllr Howard that the Buttermarket Building currently lacks sufficient physical room to accommodate this concept.
He said, “Members will be aware that following the abolition of Ennis Town Council in 2014, the Ennis MD Roads office was set up in the first floor of the Buttermarket Building in Drumbiggle. Members will further be aware that the Buttermarket Building also houses the Council’s Project Management Office and Climate Change Office on the ground floor of Buttermarket with the building currently at capacity and space at a premium. Therefore, in its current format, there isn’t physically the room to accommodate a public counter within the building”.
