Staff 'efficiency' and lack of funds plaguing Council

Waterford Council referred repeatedly to lack of funding and staff resources at a recent Council meeting. 

At the Metro session, multiple Councillors were met with claims of gridlock of funding and resources when discussing their own issues. 

Councillor Adam Wyse (Fianna Fáil) said: "A number of the issues that Councillors raised here today all seem to fall back on Council being understaffed; we don't have a night-time economy advisor, Dawn (Wallace) mentioned about not having engineers. I spoke with planning, I've spoken here for a long time about planning not having enough people to do enforcement."

Cllr Wyse went on: "I know when CEO Sean McKeown came into the role he said he was undertaking a review into the staff members in Waterford Council. Has that happened? Will the Council be privy to that?"

Cllr Wyse continued: "I'd like the Council to come to us and say: 'We need more engineers', 'we need a night-time economy advisor', tell us what its going to cost in the budget. I'd like to know that now, I wouldn't like to be told that two weeks before the budget."

Councillor Lola O’Sullivan (Fine Gael) said: "I feel strongly that the enforcement section of the planning needs additional staff to drive forward the problems. I think the enforcement staff are not staffed efficiently."

Director of Services for Planning Michael Quinn said: “It’s been echoed by pretty much every section within the council in terms of the challenges they're facing and the need for additional staffing." Mr Quinn made the comment while addressing the status of the Waterford Local Community Safety Partnership (WLCSP), which hasn't reconvened in a number of months. Mr Quinn said: "There is a limit to the staff we can afford, that's something to bear in mind."