Fear that council’s €80,000 project investment is lost

Fears have been expressed that the €80,000 Navan Town Council invested in its bid to win the Government's Smarter Travel competition may have gone down the drain, as the Department of Transport remains tightlipped on the results of the competition five months after they were due to be announced. Councillors have expressed concern that the €50 million investment, which was to have been the prize for the three prizewinning towns, may no longer be available from the Department in light of slashed Government spending. Meanwhile, Navan town manager Eugene Cummins said the Department had indicated to the council it was not in a position to make an announcement on the results of the competition, pending finalisation of the budget and the longer-term Four Year Plan. Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey has been accused of leading Navan up the garden path in relation to the Smarter Travel initiative, the results of which were to have been announced last July. Navan councillor Joe Reilly accused the minister of “hoodwinking†Navan and the 28 other towns which entered the lucrative competition, which was designed to assist the development of demonstration projects that can deliver sustainable transport initiatives, achieving real and measurable changes in people's travel choices and behaviour. The Smarter Travel initiative, which was launched in 2008, was to provide funding of €50 million over three years to the winning top three towns in the state. Twenty-nine towns, including Navan, entered the competition and the result announcement is now five months overdue. However, a spokesperson for Minister Dempsey said no announcement had yet been made, but both the successful and unsuccessful candidates would be told at the same time. Cllr Reilly who, as Mayor of Navan at the time of making the bid, attended the final interviews with Meath County Manager Tom Dowling, area manager Eugne Cummins and Navan town clerk, Shane Donnelly, said that Navan had invested up to €80,000 of taxpayers' money in putting together its pitch for the competition. He pointed out that, according to the minister, if Navan had been successful, €15 million would have been invested over three years in Navan. “Navan was successful in reaching the last twelve of the competition. The results were due in July of this year,†he said. “The staff of Navan Town Council did Trojan work. They mobilised every sector of the Navan community - business, educational centres, sporting, community and voluntary groups.†The effort included creating a Guinness World Record for the longest 'Walking Bus',†he said. Cllr Reilly said countless hours had been spent meeting with representatives of the Dept of Transport by local elected representatives and staff from other statutory agencies. “They united the town in pursuit of the prize and everyone worked together to win the competition for the betterment of Navan and its citizens.†Cllr Reilly went on: “Minister Dempsey said the results would be announced in July of this year. Then it was going to be August. Nothing happened. I issued a statment in September asking Minister Dempsey for clarification on the results of the competition. There was no response. Four months later, the minister remains silent on the competition results.†The Sinn Fein councillor said he had now asked Deputy Arthur Morgan to put a Parliamentary Question to Minister Dempsey asking if he intends to announce the winners of the €50m Smarter Travel competition. “Has the money now gone like the other billions into the defunct banking system?†he asked. “Have 29 towns across the State been hoodwinked by the minister? Have we spent thousands of Navan taxpayers' money on a non-existent Smarter Travel initiative? Does Minister Dempsey intend to continue by announcing the winners and awarding the promised funding?†He said the people of Navan and the other 28 towns at least deserves a response from the minister as to why the results of a competition initiated by him is now five months behind schedule with no indication from him as to what is happening or when the results might be announced. Cllr Tommy Reilly of Fianna Fail said he would be bitterly disappointed if Navan didn't get the funding after the huge amount of work that had gone into the bid by the council and the entire community of the town.