Difficulty in getting people to talk to and Galway City Council departments “not wanting to take responsibility” for certain issues has led Fianna Fáil councillors into seeking a meeting with the city manager.
Galway city’s three FF councillors - Michael J Crowe, Ollie Crowe, and Peter Keane - will meet city manager Joe O’Neill tomorrow to discuss what they feel are shortcomings in the response of City Hall staff to councillors’ raising of issues and queries.
The meeting follows a letter from Cllr Michael J Crowe, sent to Mr O’Neill on Thursday November 1, outlining what they see as the problem and calling for it to be solved.
According to Cllr Ollie Crowe, when councillors wish to ring a department in City Hall to raise an issue, arrange a meeting, sort out concerns for their local area, etc, they sometimes find they have to call “four or five times” before they get someone to speak with.
He also said councillors are frustrated that some phones in City Hall do not have message minders or that emails are not always responded to.
“I had an issue recently regarding bonfires in the city but when I went to one department to discuss it I was told it was handled by another,” Cllr Crowe told the Galway Advertiser. “I went to the other department but they said it was looked after by the first one. You can often get shoved from pillar to post on these things and no one wants to take responsibility.”
Cllr Crowe said the meeting has been called “not to have a go at staff” but in order to sport out a problem which councillors find “frustrating”.
“We don’t want to have to be continually chasing staff,” he said. “We want more efficiency in the service.”
