Duleek civic offices not closing down, says county manager

Meath County Council will not be closing its or civic offices in Duleek, the Meath County Manager has assured councillors. Tom Dowling was responding to reports that some services, including motor tax and housing, had been taken out of the office and centralised in Navan. The issue had been raised by Cllr Jimmy Cudden over a period of time and, last week, another Duleek-based councillor, Seamus O'Neill, called for the restoration of the motor tax service to the village. The question of the future of the local office was discussed at a full meeting of the council in Navan, and at the Slane Electoral Area meeting in Duleek last Wednesday. At the Duleek meeting, area manager Tadhg McDonnell said that staff at the office were upset to read in the media and hear councillors saying that the office would close. Mr Dowling said he agreed with councillors that the office provided "great customer focus". He said: "Not one of us wants to close it down or remove the service from it. Duleek won't be sold." He promised to come back to councillors at the time of the council budget, adding that a way had to be found of using the council's area offices as centres for viable activities. Cllr O'Neill said he was delighted to hear what the manager had had to say about the Duleek office. At the Slane Electoral meeting, Mr McDonnell said that staff had read a headline in a newspaper that raised the question as to whether the office would close. "It was never the intention to close this office," he said. "Some staff here have expressed concern about it. It is demoralising for staff to read that the office is closing when it is not." Cllr Jimmy Cudden said that as he was the one who had raised the issue, he wanted to say that he was glad to hear Mr McDonnell saying what he had said. "The thing is that this one-stop-shop opened 10 years ago and it has been one of the most successful in the county. It is very fortunate, too, that we have the kind of staff here that we have. In fact, they are brilliant staff." Listing the services that had been removed from the office to Navan, including disabled persons grants, motor taxation, planning and housing services, Cllr Cudden said: "What were we to think other than that the council was going to close the key in the door? I sincerely hope I never have to talk about it again. I accept what you (manager) say here." The manager said that because of reductions in staff, the council had to look at the way it did things. "We will have to work smarter and differently in the way we do things. There are major changes for the staff and major changes in the way we work if we are to provide the service in the light of reduced staff and resources. We will have to be different and more flexible," he said.