Agenda and minutes

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Items
No. Item

1.

Minutes of the meeting held on 29th July 2021 and matters arising.

Minutes:

Agreed.

Matters arising.

Cllr Costello requested that the criteria for information meetings on planning applications be circulated to Members.  D. Ní Raghallaigh to arrange response from City Planning Officer.

 

Cllr Feeney requested a follow up information session on the Councillor Portal for Members who missed the earlier presentation.

2.

Upgrade of City Hall Councillor Facilities pdf icon PDF 4 MB

Minutes:

Report circulated and noted. Subgroup to come back with a proposal in relation to the party rooms, noted that the Independent Group was a large group and sub-group to discuss whether two smaller rooms would be more suitable. 

Manager to report back on Saturday opening.  Members re-iterated the need for consultation with them prior to decisions being taken in City Hall.  Agreed that meeting rooms should be cleared of items belonging to former councillors and that old furniture would be restored / upcycled where possible.

D. Cunningham confirmed programme of works for City Hall to be finalised within a week. Preliminary designs for Newcomen expected within 2 weeks.  Update to be provided on Newcomen & to include DAC.

3.

Report from the Assistant Chief Executive on Issues in the Traffic Department.

Minutes:

John Flanagan detailed the issues that had been highlighted to him by Councillors that included length of time for responses, lack of engagement with Councillors, lack of transparency in decision making processes, decisions not being attributed to the Councillors, timing of delivery of works unclear with no clear time commitments, lack of responses from generic email addresses.  He acknowledged that there were issues and a need to act. 

 

It was acknowledged that while it was a difficult period for staff over 18 months with staff being redeployed, different working arrangements, smaller operational pods and a loss of staff in a number of areas.

 

He outlined a number of areas that he was seeking to address including

·         Cultural Change

·         Staffing –review underway examining numbers & grades within areas

·         Review of procedures & processes

·         Funding

 

Sanction has been sought to fill 32 additional staff to work on active travel, includes a position of Programme Director – the role will include Communications and Engagement.

 

He also suggested an independently facilitated workshop for staff and councillors to examine how processes could be improved and create a shared understanding of the challenges faced by Councillors.

 

Assurance was given of the return of Neighbourhood Schemes and agreed to prioritise small initiatives to benefit the community. 

 

Members asked the Assistant Chief Executive to examine the online consultation tool and determine how best to ensure that issues raised by those directly affected are differentiated from issues raised by those campaigning.

 

Action :            Written report to be prepared on the actions to be taken.

4.

Chief Executives Report on Departmental responses to Questions and Motions

Minutes:

CE discussed the issued at Senior Management Team Meeting.  Managers advised that from 1st October all questions to contain a timeline if outlining work to be completed.  Senior Managers have been requested to oversee all formal responses to Council question.

5.

Lord Mayor's LGBTQI & Freedom City Proposal for Dublin pdf icon PDF 128 KB

Minutes:

Report circulated.  Noted that further clarification required on legal process for pedestrian crossings and for visual impairment.  Further update to October meeting, prior to report to November Council meeting.

6.

Women's Committee Update

Minutes:

Cllr. Lonergan updated the Committee on the following projects:

·         Presentation to the Group by the Senior Policy and Commissioning Manager for

·         Violence Against Women and Girls Programme, London Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime.

·         Shadowing Programme progressing

·         Launch of the Women in Politics Video Series on 29th September, she appealed to Members to support their colleagues.

7.

City Hall Illumination Requests: pdf icon PDF 265 KB

Minutes:

Report circulated.  A summary of the requests received below :

 

 

Date

Organisation

Decision

30/09/21

Recovery Academy Ireland (Irish Charity)

Agreed for Mansion House & City Hall

15/10/21

Feileacain - Still Birth & Neonatal Death Ass of Ireland. (Irish Charity)

Request received 30/07/21)

Facilitated by Mansion House

15/10/21

Raising Awareness of Developmental Language Disorder International Committee 15th

Request received 17/09/21)

Was accepted in 2020

 Agreed for City Hall

04/10/21-10/04/21

DFB Fire Safety Week

Agreed - Mansion House with the exception of 7/10/2021. 

7/10/2021 is lit a different colour for Trigeminal Neuralgia Awareness Day 

City Hall – 1 day

13/10/21

Thrombosis Ireland

Mansion House, not City Hall

01/11/21

Colour the Work Orange

Mansion House, decision deferred for City Hall

04/11/21

Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (American Not-for-Profit).

Mansion House, decision deferred for City Hall

23/11/21

16 days

Soroptimist International Dublin (Irish NGO)

 

Mansion House is lit up on this date for Winter Lights.  Waiting to see if the background colour of the Mansion House can be lit up different colours with the Winter Lights.  Decision deferred for City Hall

01/03/22

The Down Syndrome Centre

Mansion House - not on 1/3/2022 but on 21/3/2022 which is World Down Syndrome Day. Decision deferred for City Hall

19/04/22

Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH) International (Global Not-for-Profit

 Agreed for Mansion House - decision deferred for City Hall

 

Noted that the Mansion House had also received some of the requests.  Agreed to sanction the requests prior to the next meeting as listed above.  However, further discussion required on the Lighting Policy and whether the impact is lessened if there are too many events. To be discussed at next meeting.

8.

Motion in the name of Cllr. Noeleen Reilly: "To ensure that all Councillors and TDS are Invited to events in Dublin City. It appears that only when Ministers are attending Local Areas only Government Party Councillors and TDs are invited."

Minutes:

Motion deferred to next meeting.

Cllr. Lacey requested that the Manager write to all Areas to inform them that Local Councillors should be invited to all local events.

9.

Managers Report

10a)

Launch of the O'Connell Plinth sculpture commission

Minutes:

The Manager informed Members that the sculpture commission for the O'Connell Plinth will be installed on Sunday 26 September and a press photocall with the Lord Mayor, the artist and members of the Steering Group will take place on Wednesday 29 September.  Cllr. Cooney and Cllr Flynn requested that they be fully informed of the event given their role in the project.

11.

A.O.B.

Minutes:

Councillor Welfare was discussed.  The Lord Mayor noted that the Councillor Training Programme for 2022 was being developed and suggested inclusion of mental health and well being. 

 

It was agreed that the Chair of the Protocol Committee would write to the family of Cllr. Anthony Flynn to express the Committee’s condolences.

12.

Proposed Date of Next Meeting: 8am on 21st October 2021

Minutes:

Agreed.