A Monaghan County Councillor says he is frustrated by claims by some of his colleagues that now is not the right time to build new council buildings in Rooskey. At the last county council meeting, Fianna Fáil councillor PJ O'Hanlon, said he could not approve the proposed development of the €38m offices "in the current economic climate". He set down a motion at that meeting which called on the council to stall the planning process.
Following a heated debate, Councillor O'Hanlon's motion was overwhelmingly defeated and Monaghan County Council are now seeking part 8 planning permission for the multi-million euro development. Sinn Féin councillor Brian McKenna said the county needs purpose-built municipal offices because at present, the council is spending between €800,000 and €1 million euro a year in renting offices in, for example, Carrickmacross for the environment department and the M-Tek Centre which is home to the roads department.
Cllr McKenna said rain dripped on staff through the pre-fab buildings used for a time as the planning department. He also said he was frustrated that councillors would look to stall the development, which has been in process for over four years without any objections until recently. "Nobody objected to it," Cllr McKenna told Northern Sound, "We went through a process of meetings for quite a number of years and nobody objected and there was different presentations at council meetings telling members who weren't on the sub-committee to inform members what stage we were at, how far we are and what we were proposing so, all along there was general agreement. Right all along until about 12 to 14 months ago and some members then decided no, we'll break ranks now."
