Minutes:
1. The Lord Mayor opened the meeting by congratulating former colleagues who were elected to Dáil Éireann a week ago and commiserating with those who were not successful. She informed the Members that a meeting to co-opt six new members to Dublin City Council would be held at 6.15pm on Wednesday 16th March 2016 in the Council Chamber.
She then referred to the issue of Modular Housing and said that following the Housing SPC meeting held Monday 29th February when a timeline was given to the Members of the SPC, a subsequent article appeared in the Irish Times on Wednesday 2nd March advising of a delay to the process.
She said she had spoken with the Chief Executive to convey her and the Member’s anger, frustration and disappointment that there was no mention of the need to advertise the tender competition again in relation to modular housing at the Housing SPC meeting. She has requested a full update on this matter which will be given after the Emergency Motions.
The Lord Mayor then requested approval of the City Council for the attendance of Members at the National Planning Conference 2016, organised by the Irish Planning Institute, taking place on 14th and 15th April 2016 in the Sheraton Hotel, Athlone, Co. Westmeath. This was approved.
The Lord Mayor then announced that following her meeting with the Group Leaders on Friday 26th February and the Corporate Policy Group / Group Leaders earlier, she was formally proposing that Fr. Joseph Mallin SJ be admitted to the Honorary Freedom of Dublin and that his name be entered in the Roll of Honour.
She then gave a brief resume of Fr. Joseph who is the last surviving child of an executed leader of the 1916 Rising. His Father Michael Mallin was in command of the Garrisons at St. Stephen’s Green and Royal College of Surgeons and was executed in Kilmainham Gaol on 8th May 1916. Fr Joseph joined the Jesuit Order and travelled to Hong Kong and Macau where he led a very varied apostolic life, successfully doing the job of minister in the community, Mission Bursar, Director of a Social Centre, Secondary School Teacher, Headmaster of Pun Yu Primary School in Hong Kong and Principal of Ricci College in Macau.
She said that Fr. Mallin keeps in regular contact with his Irish relatives, writing in a beautiful old Irish script and keeps up to date with Irish and Chinese current affairs. He last visited Ireland to celebrate his 90th birthday but now considers Hong Kong his home. He is a man of few words, but of many loving actions and has devoted his life to serving God and the people of Hong Kong and Macau. The Freedom of the City acknowledges and celebrates this work and his family’s connection to the Easter 1916 Rising which we commemorate this year.
The Lord Mayor then proposed the following resolution which was seconded by Councillor V Jackson and agreed by the City Council “That the Honorary Freedom of the City of Dublin be conferred on Father Joseph Mallin, SJ and that he be elected and admitted to the Honorary Freedom of Dublin City pursuant to the provisions of the Local Government Act 2001”. It was agreed that the resolution be presented to Fr Joseph in Irish as he is such a devotee of the Irish Language – ‘’Go mbronnfar Saoirse Chathair Bhaile Átha Cliath ar an Athair Seosamh Ó Mealáin agus go toghfar agus glacfar isteach é i Saoirse Oinigh Bhaile Átha Cliath de réir forálacha Acht um Rialtais Áitiúil dhá mhíle is a haon.’’
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The Lord Mayor then informed the Members that several events to commemorate 1916 will take place in the near future in conjunction with Coiste Gaeilge and that the first of these will be a ceili in the Round Room on the 24th April. The Lord Mayor then referred to the assassination of a woman named Berta Cáceres in Honduras on the 3rd March which was brought to her notice by Councillor E Ryan. The approval of the City Council was given to her request to issue a letter to the Honduran Ambassador expressing the concern of the City Council at this and other recent assassinations there.