*Cllr Tony O’Brien. Photograph: Eamon Ward
SERVING AS MAYOR OF Clare has been “very fulfilling” and a “tremendous honour,” the outgoing Cathaoirleach has said while refuting claims the county’s first citizen tends to be shackled by senior management of Clare County Council.
Cllr Tony O’Brien (FF) reflected on his twelve months in office during a lengthy interview with The Clare Echo held in the Mayor’s office of Clare County Council.
To be elected to the role brought immense pride to O’Brien. “It has been a very fulfilling year, a fantastic year, a tremendous honour and privilege, really honoured to be spend the last year as Mayor of Clare, I’m hoping I didn’t disappoint anybody and that I lived up to the expectations but it was a huge honour, a brilliant and fulfilling year, getting around the county to meet different community organisations, voluntary groups, a lot of people in this county doing a lot of hours on a voluntary basis for and on behalf of their community, it was a fantastic privilege to meet a lot of these people”.
O’Brien was slow to list off achievements that were completed during this stint. “I’m in public life for the betterment of my community and the communities I serve, sometimes we have politicians who hang their hat and say ‘I did this and I did that’, I’m not one of those and I believe that I don’t achieve without the health, cooperation and support of others, they are the words I would use, that goes for my twenty seven colleagues who sit on the Council and have supported me by and large, the Executive and staff of Clare County Council. My achievements have been that I’ve been able to get around the county, I hope I’ve helped in many ways to enhance the county, help the county put its best foot forward and the communities I serve to put their best foot forward, the achievements by and large were with the support of everybody and by and large the communities and organisations who work day in day out, the Chief Executive of Clare County Council, the senior management staff and my fellow elected members”.
Among the highlights were Clare County Council getting named local authority of the year for 2022.
In his opening address as Cathaoirleach, Tony focused on projects like the Killaloe Bridge Crossing and Bypass, Shannon Heritage sites, Springfield Flood Defences, the County Development Plan, the N19 Shannon Airport Access Road and the South Clare Strategic Development Zone. “I mentioned the Killaloe Bridge Crossing and Bypass, that has started, I say this in jest because I didn’t wave a magic wand and this happened but I did have a wish list as we all do, construction will be finished within two years. Shannon Heritage is a huge one, I pushed and worked hard on that but so did a whole lot of other people, I didn’t achieve it on my own and I’d never be bold enough to say that, it was terribly fulfilling that the deal happened during my term”.
“Springfield is done, I’m glad it has been done, the SDZ is ongoing at the moment, as late as last week we had a meeting, I’m positive that it is progressing in the right direction, there’s a buy-in from the planning section in Clare County Council and the University of Limerick and the Department of Local Government who designate these areas, I believe it will happen, it won’t happen in the lifetime of my Mayorship but it will happen and be a hugely positive step forward. I’m disappointed that the wastewater treatment plant in Broadford hasn’t happened, I’m not playing politics on this, I’m of the opinion we will get Broadford in there as one of the towns that will be included in the pilot scheme, I’m confident of that but it has taken too long for my liking and everybody’s liking, this could have been done a lot faster”.
He continued, “The Budget was another and the County Development Plan was a huge one, we worked very hard and very long on that, with the cooperation of my fellow elected members and the staff in planning, it wasn’t everything we wanted and there’s still a few pieces in abeyance but to get that over the line to the best we could do for the people of Clare I’m hugely proud of that”.
Many elected representatives have said they are unable to stand over the County Development Plan criticising interference from external bodies. The Mayor is confident that they can stand over the plan. “I could say to you in that context that it is not our County Development Plan but then nobody ever gets 100 percent of everything they want but I would stand over the County Development Plan that we finally adopted, is everything in it that I or every councillor wanted no I’ll hold my hands up but it is a County Development Plan that I think is the best we could achieve with the constraints, the diktats and the gagging that was put on us from on-high and the various statutory bodies who I would say were interfering with the plan making process”.
Core strategy proved to be “a huge bone of contention” when drafting the County Development Plan, Tony admitted. “Allocations and targets were put in for individual towns and villages right around our county. €9m is to be invested in Liscannor in a wastewater treatment plant and the target there is for nine houses, you invest €9m in a community and you’ve a limit of nine houses over six years, it is ludicrous, I don’t even know who dreams these things up”.
Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan (GP) was criticised by Cllr O’Brien during his first remarks as Mayor back in June 2022 due to the scrapping of the Limerick Northern Distributor Road (LNDR). “The LNDR was taken out of the Limerick Shannon Metropolitan Transport Plan by Eamon Ryan, it was a huge mistake and very frustrating, I will continue to fight for that, it is a hugely important and vital piece of infrastructure and I will continue to fight for that”.
Though slow to criticise the county’s Oireachtas members, Cllr O’Brien felt Clare was hindered by the absence of a high-profile Minister. “People in glass houses should never throw stones, I believe that they are probably doing the best with the constraints they are under and that are put on them, I firmly believe we are lacking in this county because we don’t have a senior or junior minister at Cabinet table, I believe it is a major constraint on progress in the county”.
O’Brien was adamant that the person serving as Mayor of Clare is not heavily influenced by their close working relationship with senior management of the local authority. He insisted he was not shackled at any stage by management. “I’m not shy and I’m not one to hide my opinion whether I’m right or wrong, I’d never say I was shackled, I was always given an opportunity to voice my opinion and always given an opportunity to have my say in meetings. Once one has their say and their opinion and you progress the agenda, I’m elected by the people and they are the people who ultimately I am and will always be responsible to. If I have a disagreement with senior management on policy then I’m not afraid to articulate that and I will always try to articulate that, if I believe in something I will articulate that point of view. I don’t think you are shackled, one should never allow themselves to be shackled because that is the day you compromise your beliefs. On the other hand, I don’t think anybody tried to shackle me”.
When asked if any of his predecessors had been shackled, O’Brien responded, “I’m slow to criticise anybody, we all have our own opinions, things can be done differently, hindsight is a fantastic thing and if we could go back and do things differently there is a lot of us who would. We can always look back and say we could have done something differently”.
A debut on US TV was made by the Killaloe man in August where he used the opportunity on Fox 6 News Breakfast Show in Milwaukee to strongly promote Shannon Airport, an appearance that earned him strong praise in the county. “There’s three main pillars of economic development, we have industry in the bigger towns, we’ve Shannon Airport, we’ve agriculture and we have tourism, we have a fantastic tourism unit headed up by Deirdre O’Shea and under the directorship of Leonard Cleary, the people in the tourism office and every office work very hard. I say to everybody get on visitclare.ie if you want to see what is happening in the county, I had the opportunity to go on international TV, radio, podcasts promoting everything good that we have in Co Clare, we have the attractions but above all else we have the people, it is the one thing I’m passionate about, I say it to the first day when I was elected to Clare County Council, the difference we have in Co Clare is we have the attractions and the golf courses but it is the people that make us special, any town or village you go into you will get a welcome or a visitor experience that will make you want to come back, it is the people who make that”.
This was an area he earned plaudits but O’Brien drew ire from some of his colleagues with motions that were blocked from going to the floor at meetings of the Corporate Policy Group (CPG). “I was one of the members of the CPG and I felt it was the right thing to do at the time and I still feel it was the right thing to do, I don’t have any regrets about it because it didn’t make the criteria and I will debate this in a rationale way with anybody who wants to differ with me. There are guidelines and criteria for putting in motions, I think people really need to reflect, particularly people in public life and think about the damage they can do, when I hear on national radio people proclaiming to ‘Save Ennis’, just imagine the damage that does to the reputation of Ennis, we spoke of promoting Clare and sending out the vibes to get people to visit Clare, there is so much good happening in Ennis that we need to be mindful and careful of the language we use particularly on national airwaves. We can disagree, have debate and discussion, be passionate about it but we need to be mindful about the type of language and terminology we use in having that debate”.
Back in June 2021, O’Brien was one of five councillors to vote against a proposal to draw down a €10m loan for the Ennis 2040 Designated Activity Company (DAC). “People accuse me of being a dictator and that democracy was gone, you spoke of a vote on the CPG, it wasn’t a vote, it was a consensus, five people felt it wasn’t a motion for the County Council and one didn’t but we were accused of not being democratic, I couldn’t be more democratic. I was one of the councillors that voted against the setting up of the Ennis 2040 DAC but I am a democrat, because it was voted in I have now to get on with it and work with them because the majority of the councillors decided it was the right thing to do, I am a democrat so I get on and work with it, I don’t fight it because the majority decided, that is democracy”.
He told The Clare Echo he will not be more vocal in his opposition to Ennis 2040 and will instead row in behind the plans when he returns to his normal seat in the Council Chamber beside his Fianna Fáil colleagues. “I don’t think I have changed on it. The race has run, Ennis 2040 was voted on, I lost the vote so now it’s important I get over it and work with the tools given to me, Ennis 2040 is there and was voted on by the majority of councillors, there is no point in me fighting it, that is the system that the councillors wanted. As a trade unionist and socialist I have strong reservations about public money being given to private companies, that is my belief and why I voted against it, now the race is run and it is set up because it is what the majority of councillors decided to do”.
“I take each case on its merits, everything Tony O’Brien does is not met with 100 percent satisfaction from everybody, I’m sure the same can be said about a lot of people and the same can be said about Ennis 2040 but as democrats it is important for us to work within the parameters of democracy and tease out these problems and everybody is heard to sort out the issues, the only way you can sort it out is by reasoned dialogue, discussion and debate to come to a consensus and move on,” he added.
Concluding the interview, Tony was keen to pay tribute to those who helped him during his year in office. “I want to thank everybody from the Chief Executive, all the senior staff, every worker from every rank and grade in Clare County Council, I want to thank my twenty seven colleagues who have given me the great honour and the press for the support and coverage, I might not always like it but ye do a good job and a fair job, it is not an easy job”.
