November 2008 Monthly Meeting

Minutes of the Monthly Meeting of the Regional Authority held at 1.30 P. M. on Tuesday 4th November 2008 in the Council Chamber, Limerick County Council.

Cllr. B. Hanrahan, Cathaoirleach presided.
In attendance:
Clare County Council.
Cllrs. P. Considine, J. Crowe, B. Hanrahan, M. Kelly, M. Lafferty, P. McMahon and M. Taylor-Quinn.

Limerick City Council:
Cllrs. M. Byrne, J. Cronin, G. Fahy, J. Houlihan, P. Kennedy and L. Wallace.

Limerick County Council:
Cllrs. R. Brennan, E. Creighton, L. Enright, J. Houlihan, C. Hurley, E. Wade and L. Walsh.

North Tipperary County Council:
Cllrs. T. Berkery, W. Kennedy, M. Ryan, J. Sheehy and M. Smith.

Absent:
Cllrs. C. Crowe and J. Ryan.

Also Present:
Mr. L. Conneally, Director.
Mr. A. Fleming, Designated Manager.
Mr. S. Treacy, Staff Officer.
Ms. M. Collins, Project Research Officer.

At the outset of the meeting a vote of sympathy was extended to Cllr. E. Enright on the recent death of his brother.  Cllr. Enright thanked the Members for the vote of sympathy and all who had attended the funeral.  It was agreed to adjourn the meeting for fifteen minutes as a mark of respect.

1. Minutes.
The Minutes of the Monthly Meeting held on the 7th October 2008 were proposed by Cllr. E. Wade, seconded by Cllr. M. Kelly and agreed as presented.

2. Correspondence.
The Members noted the following correspondence copy of which had been circulated with the agenda:
(A) Letter dated 9th October 2008 from North Tipperary County Council re: Review of County Development Plan 2004/2010-Preparation of county Development Plan 2010/2016.
(B) Letter dated 22nd October 2008 from Laois Co. Co. re: Variation No.1 (2008) –Car parking Standards to the Laois Co. Co. Development Plan 2006-2012, Portlaoise LAP 2006-2012, Portarlington LAP 2007-2013, Mountmellick LAP 2007-2013.
(C) Letter dated 8th October 2008 from Kinsale Town Council re: Notice of publication of Draft Kinsale Town Development Plan 2009-2015.
(D) Letter dated 13th October 2008 from Carlow Co. Co. re: Carlow Draft Development plan 2009-2015 Planning and Development act, 2000-2002 and Planning and Development (Strategic Environmental Assessment) Regulations 2004.
(E) Reply dated 23rd October 2008 from the Health Service Executive (HSE)to request dated 30th September 2008 for officials from the HSE to attend meetings of the Regional Authority to brief Members on health matters and answer their queries.  It was agreed to support the request for HSE officials to attend at Local Authority rather than at Regional Authority meetings.

The Members also noted the following correspondence:
(A) Letter dated 29th October 2008from Listowel Town Council re Draft Town Development Plan 2009-2015.

3. Estimates 2009.
The Director informed the meeting the Finance/Conference Sub Committee had met in advance of the Monthly Meeting and examined in detail the Expenditure/Receipts under each heading and had agreed to recommend acceptance. He outlined the main decreases/increases compared to the 2008 Estimates.  He pointed out that in order to achieve the necessary 3% cut in salary costs the contract of a temporary clerical officer had not been renewed and this resulted in a 20% cut in staff numbers. He stated that the Draft Estimates had been fully discussed and agreed with the Designated Manager in accordance with Circular Letter 9/97 dated 31st July 1997. He acknowledged the contribution of the Members in agreeing to a 20% reduction in their Education and Training budget. It was proposed by Cllr. M. Ryan, seconded by Cllr. P. Considine and agreed unanimously that the Draft Estimates 2009 be accepted as presented and recommended by the Finance/Conference Sub Committee.

4. Aer Lingus –Developments at Shannon Airport-Update Report-Address  by Mr. Tony Carroll S.I.P.T.U.

The Cathaoirleach then invited Mr. Carroll to address the meeting.
Mr. Carroll stated that Aer Lingus management had outlined their plans to the Unions to outsource virtually all of the jobs in Ground Operations at Dublin/ Cork/Shannon, Cargo Operations in Dublin/Shannon and Catering in Dublin in their costing cutting plans. 
He stated that SIPTU representatives had spend three weeks at the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) in an attempt to find alternative cost saving measures.  He stated that Aer Lingus management had abruptly ended the process on 29th October 2008 and informed them that Aer Lingus intended proceeding with their outsourcing plan for the 1300 jobs at Dublin, Cork and Shannon Airports. He stated that SIPTU were currently balloting its members at the three Airports for a mandate to take strike/industrial action if the company implements part or all of its plan.
He stated that 120 Ground Operative staff were affected at Shannon Airport in addition to the 160 Cabin Crew who it is proposed to replace with American based Cabin Crew on transatlantic flights.
He stated that the impasse will only be resolved by round table discussions or by outside intervention to find a compromise to the two polar opposite positions in the dispute.
He thanked the Authority for the invitation to outline the current status in the dispute and welcomed any assistance that would resolve the dispute.
He then answered questions from the Members.
In reply he stated that:

John Charman, then Chairman, and Dermot Mannion, CEO Aer Lingus had signed a Charter, at the time of privatisation, stating that that there would be no outsourcing until 2010.

Aer Lingus had guaranteed 400,000transatlantic seats annually through Shannon but now state that this figure was only an estimate.

Aer Lingus ground staff provide a service for other flights and not just the 3 daily transatlantic flights at Shannon Airport.

SIPTU is in the process of balloting its members (to be completed by Friday 7-11-08) with 95% expected to favour industrial action.

Maintenance base at Shannon has no correlation with the number of daily flights.

No demand from staff to avail of redundancy package.


Many Members stated that industrial action should be the last resort and every effort should be made to get a resolution to the problem. It was suggested that an independent arbitrator, like Tom Kirby former Director of the Regional Authority, should be invited to mediate in the dispute.

The Members expressed disappointment at the failure of the Minister for Transport to reply to letter dated 7th October 2008 from the Authority and requested that the Director contact the Department and demand that the Minister meet a deputation from the Regional Authority on the issue within the next two weeks. It was also agreed to write to the Ministers/Ministers of State in the Region seeking their support in ensuring that the Government 25% shareholding in Aer Lingus be used to get Aer Lingus to reconsider the proposed decision to outsource baggage handling facilities and to withdraw the basing of Cabin Crew at Shannon Airport.

5. E. U. Interreg Programme.
Introduction by Ms. Marie Collins, Projects Manager, MWRA.
Presentation by Ms. Antoinette Jordan, S&E Regional Assembly.

Ms. M. Collins made a power point presentation on Interreg under the following headings:
* What is Interreg.
* Interreg III:2000-2006
* Interreg IV :2007-2013
* Transnational- B Strand
* Inter Regional-Strand C
* Examples of MWRA Interreg Projects
* MWRA & Interreg IV
* Contact Points in Ireland.

Ms. A. Jordan gave a power point presentation on Interreg IVB North West Europe under the following headings:
* Co-operation area Characteristics.
* NWE Eligible Area.
* Eligible Partners.
* Transnational Co-operation.
* Interreg 1VB-the 4 priorities
* Progress to date
* Interreg 1VB NWE-Agenda 2008-2009
* Examples of approved projects Interreg 111B 2000-2006
* Citizen First
* Water in Historic City Centres
* Carer Flows
* Corepoint
* DRIVE (Directing research into Viable Enterprise for Growth)
* DART (Development of Active Regions and Sustainable Tourism)
* Interreg 111B 2000-2006 –Average Funding, average period of project, average number of partners.
* Interreg 1V B 2007-2013- Average Funding, average period of project, average number of partners.
* Examples of approved Projects Interreg 1V B NWE 2007-2013.
* Programme Mission 2007-2013.

Ms. Collins and Ms. Jordan then answered questions from the Members.

The Members complimented the Speakers on their presentations and thanked them for answering their queries.

6. Method of notification of Regional Authority Meetings.
It was agreed to continue with the present format of notification i.e. by post.

7. Conferences- Attendance at Conferences.
The Blascaoid Commeration 2008, Ionad an Blascaoid, Dún Chaoin, Co. Chiarraí-Cllr. P. McMahon and J. Cronin.

8. A.O.B. - None.

This concluded the business of the meeting.