Cllr. John Paul O’ Shea (Ind) this week stood down as Chairman of the Northern Committee of Cork County Council as his terms has expired.
Cork County Council Northern Divisional Meetings are held once a month, where the thirteen councillors representing the Mallow, Kanturk & Fermoy Electoral Areas meet with the engineers that cover these areas. Councillors submit questions or motions in advance of the meeting on issues relating to services such as roads and road maintenance, water services, wastewater services, housing & environment. The engineers provide responses and updates at the meeting, which is then discussed.
Reflecting on the year, Cllr. O’ Shea said “I am honoured to have been elected as Chairman of the Northern Committee of Cork County Council for the 2011/2012 year. It has been a very busy year in terms of ensuring that North Cork progressed during this period. I am glad to say, we have seen significant progress during the year and I hope this can continue for the forseeable future”.
Some of the initiatives advanced in 2011/2012 year by the Northern Committee include:
- Approval of an extensive Restoration & Surface Dressing Programme for our local and regional roads for 2011 & 2012
- Agreement to lease Goold’shill Community Centre to CDYS to enahnce community services for the people of the area
- Completion of Phase 1 of the Mallow/Ballyviniter Regional Water Supply Scheme
- Distribution of over €100,000 to community and voluntary organisations through Cork County Council’s Amenity Grant Scheme
- Complete the transfer of hundreds of unsold affordable housing stock to social housing or social leasing in order to allocate deserving tenants these vacant houses
- Completion of overlay schemes on the N72 (Mallow/Killarney Road), N73 (Mallow/Mitchelstown) and N20 (Cork/Limerick Road).
- Commencement of realignment of 72 at Carrig, Mallow & Castletownroche
- Proceeding to design on the realignment of the N73 at Annakisha & Glogher Waterdyke
- Commencement of Improvement Scheme on R581 (Twopothouse/Doneraile Road)
- Commencement of Improvement Scheme on R582 (Mountcaine Bridge)
- Approval to commence work on improving safety at five locations throughout North Cork through the Low Cost Accident Scheme
- Distribution of over €300,000 to community & voluntary groups through the Cork County Council’s Community Fund
Cllr. O’ Shea added “I would like to take this opportunity to thank the engineering staff for their professionalism and support during my term as Chairman of the Northern Division and also to the support staff who organised the meetings. I would also like to pay tribute to the late Cllr. Michael Donegan who was Vice-Chairman of the committee and assisted me greatly until his sudden passing at the end of last year. I also want to wish my successor, Cllr. Noel McCarthy well over the coming year which will undoubtedly be a challenging one in the current climate”.
