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Council blocks city manager on bus lanes
COUNCILLORS last night appeared to have wrested some control back from city manager Tom Mackey on the location of bus lanes in the city centre.
The selection of O'Connell Avenue, the Ennis Road and Mulgrave Street as preferred routes has proven controversial, with councillors backing local residents and businesses fiercely opposed to the proposals.
Mr Mackey said at last night's meeting of Limerick City Council that Limerick was lagging behind other cities in providing bus lanes, for which money was available from Government.
And the manager had signalled at past meetings that he was willing to use his executive powers by making a managerial order on "green routes" under the Road Traffic Act.
But a motion proposed by Cllr Pat Kennedy and seconded by Cllr Maria Byrne – and passed without opposition last night – puts the green routes programme back under Part VIII of the planning process (the local authority's own development). While councillors could do nothing to oppose an executive function of management, they can approve or disapprove plans under Part VIII.
"Three years ago, Limerick City Council embarked upon a Part VIII and only abandoned it in February. Why? Because he (the city manager) knew councillors would have the final say. If he would re-engage in Part VIII, he would have good faith restored.
"As long as we're here, we will ensure democracy prevails," Cllr Kennedy said.
Amid confusion in the Council chamber, councillors adopted the motion before Mr Mackey, who had earlier expressed "concern" in relation to it, was not afforded the opportunity to advise the members on it or explain his concerns.
Cllr Byrne and Cllr Kennedy agreed to defer a related motion asking for proposed bus lanes along Ballinacurra Road/ O'Connell Avenue and Mulgrave Street/Roches Street to be scrapped.
But Mr Mackey said the Council was still engaged in public consultation over route selection and did not want to see "the hands of the Council tied" by removing specific routes.
"The difficulty I have is to protect the Council from dealing with this in a piecemeal fashion...that if certain streets are deleted now how do we know somebody will not come back to us seeking to delete, for example, the Ennis Road," Mr Mackey said.
"That will come, I guarantee you," Cllr Michael Hourigan said in relation to the Ennis Road.
"The perception is out there that Limerick City Council is against bus lanes and we are the only city without them," the manager said
"My advice to the Council is the motions are premature and would tie your hands entirely ahead of looking at options to put in place for the citizens of the city a proper public transport system and deal with congestion in the city," Mr Mackey warned.
Councillors in the end agreed to defer the motion until June for an update.
Meanwhile, director of transportation services, Pat Dromey, denied suggestions by Cllrs Byrne, Kennedy and Joe Leddin that preparatory work on providing bus lanes at O'Connell Avenue had already begun.
Cllr Byrne said she had been told by a senior official that workmen were counting underground pipes ahead of working on footpaths to accommodate bus lanes. And the workers had personally confirmed this to her and to a local resident, Cllr Byrne insisted this Tuesday morning.
Mr Dromey described this information as "erroneous".
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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