Major conference in Donegal

“An excellent event and a great opportunity to showcase Buncrana, Inishowen and wider Donegal” was how Association of Irish Local Government (AILG) President, Councillor Nicholas Crossan, described the organisation's annual national conference 2022.

AILG represents and supports Ireland's 949 elected councillors and according to Cllr Crossan the event, which was held in the Inishowen Gateway last week, gave “the local economy a welcome boost”.

Cllr Crossan also praised the work of the Donegal County Council and Buncrana Tidy Towns teams and town gardener, George McDermott, who, he said, had kept the approach roads to the town and the whole area looking fantastic.

Cllr Crossan said: “The conference itself contained a packed programme of discussion about the key issues facing the sector in 2022.

“Peter Burke TD, Minister for Planning and Local Government and Kevin Comiskey, IFA chair of the national sheep committee, were among the keynote speakers across both days of the event.

“Both chose to highlight the ongoing opportunities and challenges under the new Town Centre First policy, which attempts to tackle vacancy, combat dereliction and breathe new life into town centres across the country.

“We had excellent speakers over the course of the two days, which included presentations from our own Donegal County Council staff. It gave councillors a great insight into the challenges ahead, where they need to focus their energy and how both councillors and local authorities can continue to champion the local economic recovery post covid-19.

“More so, it has given Donegal an opportunity to showcase itself and send out a positive message about this great county.
Welcoming the AILG delegates to Buncrana on Wednesday night, Cathaoirleach of Donegal County Council, Cllr Jack Murray said it was brilliant to welcome councillors from all over Ireland to Buncrana.

He added: “The sun is beaming down so we are going to show off the beauty of the Inishowen peninsula. I would like to point the delegates towards some of the beautiful sites we have here in Inishowen, including Grianán of Aileach, Fort Dunree, Malin Head and Moville.

Kevin Comiskey (IFA), Eunan Quinn (Senior Planner, Donegal Co Co), Cllr. Nicholas Crossan (AILG President), Anne Marie Conlon (Head of Economic Development, Donegal Co Co.

“While the AILG conference is an informative and educational event, I hope the visiting councillors will get out and explore all that Inishowen has to offer, take some photographs of the stunning scenery and show them to their constituents and encourage them to come and visit us.”

Before the AILG conference got underway, Minister Peter Burke said government wanted to ensure that all development was now plan led.

He said: “We also want to ensure that infrastructure underwrites decisions that councillors are making.

“It is very important, as a government, when we go zoning land into the future, it has to have the capacity to deliver residential units within the time-frame of the county development plan.

“In the past, back in 2008, we had enough zoned land in Ireland as a whole to accommodate the growth of ten million people. In other words, the state could not predict where the infrastructure should go because there was so much zoned land and we ended up with 3,000 ghost estates.

“We now have the biggest capital plan ever on record in the history of the state, so it is important councillors prioritise where that investment should go. We are also updating rural planning guidelines, which is very important.

“We must acknowledge and understand the need for one-off rural housing, its role in our communities and that we have a pathway for a sustainable approach to it.”

Turning to last Wednesday night's RTÉ Investigates programme on county councils, Minister Burke said he had not seen the programme but he believed all of the cases highlighted were raised through the audit procedures within the local authorities.

He added: “All of the cases are public knowledge and have been acted upon. We will review the contents of the programme and if there is any action necessary, we will absolutely take it.”