Cathaoirleach to lead council delegation to New York

Three members of Meath County Council, along with one official, will be travelling to New York to join in St Patrick's Day celebrations there, the council confirmed yesterday (Tuesday). In addition, two councillors and one official will be travelling to London for the festivities in the British capital. The council cathaoirleach, Cllr Ann Dillon Gallagher, will lead the delegation to New York. Also included will be Cllr John V Farrelly and Cllr Jimmy Fegan and the director of services, council official Brendan McGrath. Cllrs Wayne Harding and Bill Carey, along with Meath County Manager Tom Dowling, will be in London. The council has a budget of €10,000 for foreign travel and its protocol committee, which met recently, decided that the council should be represented in the two cities. They will be travelling at the invitation of Meath emigrant societies in both London and New York. Council official Martin Rogers' report on the decision of the protocol committee to send councillors overseas next month was proposed, seconded and agreed at the February meeting of the council. When the matter was raised at the meeting of the council last month, Fine Gael Cllr Catherine Yore said that she felt that, in the current economic climate, councillors going on these visits should pay their own way. It is the normal practice of the council that councillors are nominated for the trips by their own parties or groupings. Although independent members have participated in St Patrick's Day festivities abroad, they are not expected to nominate any members for this year's visits. Trim Town Council is expected to stick with its policy, established last year, when a decision was made that councillors attending the celebrations in New York or London would pay their way from their own pockets. Cllr Gerard Reilly represented the council in New York last year and Cllr Vincent McHugh was in London.