Agenda item

Minutes:

The Lord Mayor opened the meeting by asking Members to observe a moment of silence to remember the following individuals who recently died:

 

·         The young boy who was killed in Dublin on Tuesday 26th January 2021 in the North Inner City.  There Lord Mayor extended the sympathies of the Council to his family, and friends. She informed Members that should be raising the issue of knife crime in the city with the Gardaí.

 

·         Jean Ahearne, wife of James McConnell, Civil Defence Officer, Dublin Civil Defence.  Jean was a former First Officer of Dublin Civil Defence and was a member for 24 years.  For the past 12 years she served as a Manual Handling and People Handling Consultant.

 

The Lord Mayor informed Members that there would be a Special City Council Meeting at 6.15pm on Monday 8th February on the issue of Traveller Accommodation.

 

The Lord Mayor took the opportunity to extend a sincere and heartfelt apology to all those who suffered in Mother and Baby Homes. Dublin City Libraries has commissioned a historian to research the involvement of Dublin Corporation in Mother and Baby homes. The exact contents of the Corporation minutes and reports will be examined as part of that research and any information uncovered will be made available in a timely and accessible way. (See Appendix A for full text.) 

 

The Lord Mayor announced that the process to develop the Dublin City Integration Strategy was officially launched last Thursday with a Webinar of interested stakeholders. She will be working with Dublin City Council’s Social Inclusion Section on the preparation of the Strategy and there will further public consultation and engagement over the next number of months.

 

The Lord Mayor informed Members that the Minister will be attending a meeting of the Lord Mayor’s Task Force on Homelessness this Friday, responding to the issues raised in the report of the Task Force.

 

The Lord Mayor appraised Members that a Cross-Party group of Councillors have prepared an alternative draft proposal for the lands at Oscar Traynor Road.  This will be brought to the Housing SPC and to the monthly City Council meeting in March.  The draft has been forwarded to the Minister and a request for a meeting with him sought.

 

The Lord Mayor confirmed that following the last City Council meeting she wrote to the CEO of the HSE requesting that the members of Dublin Fire Brigade receive the Covid19 Vaccine as a matter of urgency due to their role as frontline workers.  Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Colm Henry responded on 22nd January advising that they are working on a process to identify frontline healthcare workers within and outside the HSE not yet vaccinated.

 

At this point in the proceedings the Lord Mayor invited DFB Chief Fire Officer, Dennis Keeley to address the Members. The CFO provided a comprehensive report on the situation relating to the vaccination of DFB staff. He informed Members that he had been in regular contact with the Assistant Chief Executive and Chief Executive on the issue. He confirmed that there had been a delay in the vaccination programme which was a result of supply issues across the Health Care Sector and vaccines being diverted to Care Homes. He confirmed that he had been in discussions with senior members of the HSE with a view to resuming the vaccination programme for DFB as soon as possible and that he had received a commitment that all frontline staff would receive their first vaccination by the end of February. He also confirmed that those DFB personnel who had received their first vaccination 3 weeks ago would receive their second dose by the end of this week.   

 

The Lord Mayor reminded Members that Donations Statements were to be submitted to the Chief Executive’s Office by 31st January and the Annual Ethics Declarations by 28th February.  Councillors will be sent a link so that they can complete the Ethics Declaration form online. There was also a reminder that Resilience Training for Councillors will be held on Friday 5th February and that anyone who wished to attend should contact the Chief Executive’s Office.

 

The Lord Mayor extended congratulations to Cllr. Racheal Batten who recently gave birth to a baby daughter named Grace.

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