Author Archives: wptgie

Tara Mines Workers SIPTU ICTU – Notice of Motion

10.1 Submitted by Cathaoirleach Tommy Reilly, Councillors Sean Drew, David Gilroy, Trevor Golden, Edward Fennessy and Michael Gallagher.

Meath Co. Council notes the commitment in the Government’s recent budget to the introduction of pay-related job seekers benefit in December 2024. However, this council is supporting SIPTU’s Construction Sector campaign on behalf of the Tara Mines workers in calling upon Government to bring forward the implementation date of these proposals and supports the ICTU’s position for job seekers benefit to be increased to 70% of average earnings capped at €550 for a minimum of 9 months.

Swift Cultural Centre – Notice of Question

8.5 Submitted by Councillor Trevor Golden

“In the interests of representation and balance, will Meath County Council be revising the articles of association or current appointments for directors of Solstice Arts Centre to reflect the addition of the Swift Cultural Centre in the Trim Municipal District?”

Response

The Articles of Association will be reviewed following the expansion of services to include the Swift Cultural Centre.

Traffic Management M1, M2/N2, M3 & M4. – Notice of Motion

10 General Interest Motions
10.5 Submitted by Councillor Trevor Golden

“That Meath County Council calls on Transport Infrastructure Ireland to implement traffic management on motorways and arterial routes (M1, M2, N2, M3 and M4), in particular at points of congestion, as these areas pose a higher risk for road users.”

Meath County Council HVO Trial – Notice of Question

8.5 Submitted by Councillor Trevor Golden

“Can we have an update on the HVO trial please?”

Response
In April 2024, Meath County Council commenced a trial with 10 vehicles of various sizes, ranging from a small van up to a large truck. During this trial there were no issues reported with any of the vehicles and the feedback from the drivers shows no difference to driving performance or fuel usage. By the start of August, 5,827 litres of HVO had been used, resulting in a reduction of CO2 of 16,222kg which is the equivalent to an 88% reduction in CO2 emissions. Odometer readings are being used for each vehicle on the trial to generate the MPG for each vehicle to assess the efficiency of each vehicle and compare against other similar vehicles. As part of the trial, 9,000 litres of HVO was ordered and this is expected to be fully utilised by mid to late September. Following the completion of the trial, the costs and performance will be assessed.

CCPC Dual Pricing Reward & Loyalty Cards – Notice of Motion

10.6 Submitted by Councillor Trevor Golden
“Meath County Council calls government and regulators (Competition and Consumer Protection Commission) – to ban the practice of dual/discriminatory pricing of goods,
specifically by supermarkets by means of a membership system such as Rewards/Club
cards. This coercive practice unfairly discriminates and effectively forces an additional
condition on the sale of goods.”

Big Belly Bins – Notice of Motion

9.5 Submitted by Councillor Trevor Golden
“Meath County Council utilises branding on solar-powered compacting litter bins to promote local authority projects, services and other appropriate initiatives.”

Response
The Council has introduced in excess of 150 Solar Powered Compacting Litter Bins across the six Municipal District areas. These bins are the subject of a maintenance contract with a supplier and the Council will investigate the possibility of utilising these bins as a method to promote Meath or to use as another method for awareness campaigns.

Shared Space Zones – Notice of Question

8.3 Submitted by Councillor Trevor Golden

“By Municipal District, how many designated Shared Spaces Zones are in County Meath?”

Response
Meath County Council currently do not have shared zones. We have approximately 109 slow zones which are used in housing estates that have a 30kph speed limit, the numbers per MD are as follows;

Ashbourne – 22
Kells – 22
Laytown – 10
Navan – 23
Ratoath – 22
Trim – 10
Slow zones utilise a similar sign to F404 in the Traffic Signs Manual.

Shared space zones are however being considered where appropriate on schemes in Ratoath, Navan and Dunboyne.

Meath County Council HVO Trial – Notice of Question

Transportation SPC – Notice of Question (Feb 2023)

Can Meath County Council investigate the possible use of and feasibility of Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) Fuel for the fleet of council vehicles?

Response (May 2023)
Decarbonization of fleet is a priority for Meath County Council and will greatly aid organizational emissions reduction to achieve our 2030 targets, however, it is not without challenges for our larger sized fleet where EV or hydrogen technology is not fully proven or readily accessible. In order to strive towards our targets transitional options must be examined, including HVO. In developing transitional solutions, it is important that vehicles can continue to perform as present in terms of range, volume and load capacity, further to this an exercise is currently ongoing to ascertain our future resource needs(including fleet) in a changing environment.

Transportation Operations in collaboration with the Climate Action Team have commenced a trial of HVO in the Navan depot. Three vehicles from the Navan MD have
been assigned to the trial plus a Civil Defence vehicle from the adjacent HQ. The trial will run for a period of three months and may be extended for a further three months using a great number of vehicles. HVO fuel consumption will be monitored over the trial period as will vehicle performance.

In consideration of the longer term use of HVO or other alternative fuels there are number of considerations. Firstly, locations and size of the bunded tanks, some of our depots have restrictions on space or may require additional security if large volumes of fuel are to be stored, storage locations would have to be carefully considered to avoid unnecessary driving to re-fuel. Secondly, the fuel must be certified as fully sustainable, that is, made form waste oils and not from processes contributing to deforestation. Additionally, security of supply is important, that fuel is available on an ongoing basis with short lead in times.

It is recognised technology is constantly changing and the alternative fuels space is a dynamic one, Transportation will continue to engage with the sector to explore options and where appropriate participate in trials, consideration will need to be given on how best to procure alternative fuels and if there are economy of scales benefit in collaborating with other local authorities or agencies. The outcome of this trial will inform options for fleet across all directorates.

Motion calling for the consideration of Nuclear Power Generation in Ireland.

Over the years I have spoken about Nuclear Power in many contexts including Global Warming, Energy Security, Sustainability and Government Policy. Cllr. Alan Tobin also spoke on these issues and we share many views on the subject. In October I reached out to Cllr. Alan Tobin to co-sponsor a motion.

The Electricity Regulation Act, 1999 reads:

(6) An order under this section shall not provide for the use of nuclear fission for the generation of electricity.

This legislation has effectively stopped Ireland talking about Nuclear Energy. The purpose of the motion is for our country to have an honest debate about Nuclear energy and its possible role in our transition to low carbon electricity generation.

The motion does not propose or suggest renewables are not the future, they are but there is a difficult transition period ahead of us. Crucially, we don’t have the time. We believe a mix of nuclear and renewables is a viable solution for Ireland.

At the December 2022 meeting of Meath County Council our motion on the Electricity Regulation Act & Nuclear Power Generation was debated and passed by the members. The motion:

10.2 Submitted by Councillor Trevor Golden and Councillor Alan Tobin (Deferred fromOctober and November Meetings)

“Meath County Council calls on the Government to amend the Electricity Regulation Act and associated legislation to allow for the consideration and possible implementation of nuclear power generation in Ireland.”

The motion was sent to Government and to all local authorities for their consideration. We continue to work with elected members and groups so Ireland can have an honest debate on Nuclear Power Generation.

Here is a link to my notes that I worked from for the debate – Cllr Trevor Golden – Motion – Nuclear Power – Electricity Generation Act.pdf

Link to Meath Chronicle Article – Should nuclear power be generated in Ireland? – that is the question posed by two councillors at a Meath County Council meeting.

Link to 12-2022 Minutes December Meath County Council.

Housing Assistance Payment HAP Payments by Cost & Units – Notice of Question

8.4 Submitted by Councillor Trevor Golden

“Can Meath County Council provide data, redacted as appropriate, in tabular form detailing the top 10 HAP Payments by cost. The data should include units provided, number of applicants housed and total cost for the year. This information is sought for each of the last 4 years (2018, 19, 20 & 21).”

Response:
HAP payments are managed on behalf of the sector by the HAP Shared Services Centre in Limerick and City Council. The information below was provided by the HAP Shared Services Centre. The recipient’s information has been redacted due to GDPR. It should be noted that the recipient as set out below may be a letting agent representing several landlords.

YearEntityPropertiesAmount
2018Recipient 13104€835,162.80
Recipient 0868€644,619.65
Recipient 1423€172,297.60
Recipient 0422€227,624.17
Recipient 1122€166,991.57
Recipient 0718€159,964.00
Recipient 0316€142,056.22
Recipient 0516€143,701.30
Recipient 1216€171,020.04
Recipient 1013€80,273.42
318€2,743,710.77
2019EntityPropertiesAmount
Recipient 13126€1,209,297.09
Recipient 0868€798,589.86
Recipient 1428€274,301.46
Recipient 1123€208,470.46
Recipient 0721€205,100.95
Recipient 0419€179,500.91
Recipient 1219€215,741.68
Recipient 0317€195,256.31
Recipient 0617€151,435.18
Recipient 1017€117,674.18
355€3,555,368.08
2020EntityPropertiesAmount
Recipient 13134€1,381,920.82
Recipient 0871€772,113.34
Recipient 1431€331,874.82
Recipient 0724€253,543.07
Recipient 0523€207,693.83
Recipient 1223€239,188.32
Recipient 1122€204,025.99
Recipient 0320€223,291.12
Recipient 0618€179,842.05
Recipient 0915€114,152.85
381€3,907,646.21
2021EntityPropertiesAmount
Recipient 13138€1,398,141.47
Recipient 0864€686,502.21
Recipient 1431€328,409.12
Recipient 0326€203,446.18
Recipient 0724€307,418.57
Recipient 1123€229,814.23
Recipient 0522€213,775.49
Recipient 1220€198,683.01
Recipient 0119€169,732.00
Recipient 0218€166,820.58
385€3,902,742.86
HAP Properties (Top 10) by cost for Meath County Council for years 2018 to 2021

Clarification Requested:

With the GDPR not applying to data about companies or any other legal entities/legal persons, what are the names of agencies or bodies that have been redacted? In all situations where the intermediary/landlord is not a living natural person I would like the information.

Response:

EntitiyReference
Anthony Byrne Property Services LimitedRec 01
Ballivor 3 Investments LtdRec 02
C & M Swift Property Services LtdRec 03
Doran Auctioneers Ltd T/A Doran EstatesRec 04
E&J Auctioneers & Consultants LtdRec 05
Hyland Property Management Ltd T/A Bohan Hyland & AssociatesRec 06
John Ryan Auctioneers LtdRec 07
Ken Morgan Investment Property Ltd T/A Champion LettingsRec 08
Lydon Farrell Property LimitedRec 09
Harlin AuctioneersRec 10
Private individual. Name RedactedRec 11
Pexxus LtdRec 12
Royal RentalsRec 13
Smith Harrington LimitedRec 14
Entity Mappings