Offaly Co Co is using consultants too much – Cllr Clendennen

THE County Council is using consultants too much, Cllr John Clendennen told the September monthly meeting of Birr MD.
The Councillor made his comment when discussing the “excellent conservation work” carried out on the old church building in Ballyboy graveyard.
€50,000 was spent on Phase 1 of the Ballyboy graveyard conservation project which was directed towards protecting the integrity of the roofless building. A consultant was used for this phase. Phase 2 will include a number of improvement works on the graveyard surrounding the church.
“Consultancy fees are expensive,” Cllr Clendennen pointed out, “and while the expertise of outside consultants will be sometimes needed I think that in some instances the expertise in our own local authority will be sufficient to tackle certain projects.” He said a more astute approach such as this would save the Council money.
The Councillor pointed out that the Built Heritage Investment Scheme (BHIS), which is for the repair and conservation of structures that are protected under the Planning and Development Acts, can provide grants of up to €50,000 for conservation projects. “Many people don't know about the excellent BHIS scheme. We should promote it more."
Cllr Peter Ormond agreed. “There are quite a few different streams of grant funding available,” remarked Cllr Ormond. “We need to showcase those different streams more, to highlight them more. There is great interest out there in our communities to preserve, to conserve our heritage.”
Heritage Officer Amanda Pedlow pointed out that the Community Monuments Fund is another excellent scheme, which offers grants up to €100,000. She urged communities to “come forward to us in the Heritage Office with their projects and we will help them navigate the funding applications.”
Amanda said one of the victims of the Dublin Monaghan Bombings of May 17th, 1974 is buried in Ballyboy graveyard. This is Josephine (Josie) Bradley from Kilcormac who was a civil servant and 21 years of age when she died because of the tragedy. She was walking along Talbot Street in Dublin with two friends, to catch a train home, when the bomb exploded. She died a few days later from her injuries.
Amanda added that a a powerful new documentary about the bombings is currently being shown in locations around the country. The documentary is called "Anatomy of a massacre".
Justice for the Forgotten was formed in 1996 with the aim of campaigning for truth and justice for the victims of the bombings. 34 people, including an unborn baby, died that day, resulting in the greatest loss of life in any single day of the Troubles. The film is very much a human interest story focussing on what the survivors and families who lost loved ones have had to endure over 49 years in trying to find the truth of what happened.