‘Oxometer’ leads to confusion for regional authority

PJ Kelly-speak is gradually being infused into the proceedings of the Mid-West Regional Authority but it occasionally baffles councillors unfamiliar with the new Clare addition to the authority.

“What is an oxometer?” a councillor enquired in an aside during the October meeting, when Councillor Kelly was in full flight in denouncing a draft submission that had been prepared on the authority’s behalf.
Had the councilor who asked the question been in attendance from the start, he would have heard Councillor Kelly remark that he was tempted to compare the contents of the submission as something along the lines of “horse manure”.
Councillor Kelly had dismissed the draft document as the authority’s submission on the 2009 Planning and Development Bill, which is being processed through the Houses of the Oireachtas. When he got his way and was promised a revised draft submission, he warned that he would be giving the replacement document the “oxometer” treatment, or testing for a different type of farm manure.
Councillor Kelly fired off a fusillade of objections to the draft submission, which he said he found “both confusing and amusing”.
In refusing to award the draft submission a pass mark, he listed his reservations in relation to the wording of the submission. Where the submission stated that the regional authority “supported” the planning bill, he demanded to know “who is the person or persons unknown” who had taken it upon themselves to state that the authority supported the bill.
Supporting the Bill was something akin to turkeys voting for Christmas, he contended, as the provisions of the new Act would transfer the planning functions of elected councillors to the regional authorities.
He challenged sections of the draft submission, which stated “it is acknowledged” and “it is understood”.
Asserting his total opposition to the draft submission, Councillor Kelly declared, “If the proposals of this Bill go into law, it is the end of life in rural Clare as we know it.”
The regional authority director, Liam Conneally, confirmed that he had penned what he described as the “draft response” and in doing so had in mind that the document would be for the guidance of the members of the authority. The director added that because the new Planning Bill would add significant additional powers to the regional authority, he had devoted a considerable amount of time to preparing the response.
With support from Shannon councillor Gerry Flynn, Councillor Kelly was initially adamant that he wanted a total re-write “from A to Z” of the document. But he relented when it was pointed out that the bill is moving through the Oireachtas and that making a submission in time was important. Because of that, councillors did not want the revision of the document postponed to the November meeting.
Councillor Kelly agreed to a compromise and agreed to his nomination by fellow Clare councillors to join nominees from Limerick City and county and North Tipperary in meeting up with regional authority director to work out a new submission. However, Councillor Kelly warned that he would still apply his “oxometer” test.