Kells council staffing 'on a knife edge'

Staffing levels at Meath County Council and Kells Town Council are on a knife edge, to the point where just one sick day can cause total disruption in the Kells area office, according to local area manager, Brendan McGrath. Meath has the lowest ratio of local authority staff per head of population and, from June 2008 to December 2009, Meath County Council staff numbers were down by 128. At a meeting of Kells Town Council last week, Mr McGrath said staffing was at critically low levels as people who retired weren't being replaced and there had been a number of early retirements recently. He said where contracts had expired, they weren't renewed and people going on maternity leave were not being replaced. He added that recent surveys showed Meath had the lowest number of staff per head of population and that figure now stood at one member of staff for every 223 residents. "The ratio in Dublin is 76 to one, in Cork it is 82 to one and in Leitrim it is 93 to one," he said. Cllr Tommy Grimes pointed out the town council has six outdoor staff, but one was on long-term sick leave. With all the work that needs to be done in the town, they would have to work 18 hours a day, he claimed. He said that council staff had been laid off in the past year, despite being run off their feet and other staff had to then take on their work, too. Cllr Conor Ferguson said there soon wouldn't be anybody to do any work.