Still no Fás scheme in Kilkee

KILKEE town councillors have again queried why no Fás Community Employment Scheme is based in the resort town. They raised the matter at Monday’s January meeting of Kilkee Town Council, when Councillor Lily Marrinan-Sullivan said she had received correspondence from a local TD on the issue. However, she expressed dissatisfaction with the content of the letter.
“I received another letter from one of the local TDs. It’s just lip service. If you read the letter, it’s really saying nothing, only telling us what we do have. What is quite clear is we do not have a Fás scheme in Kilkee, like they have in other towns throughout Clare. If there was mistakes made in Fás schemes the town should not be penalised for it,” Councillor Marrinan Sullivan maintained.
“Sending back letters telling us how many schemes that there are in Clare, how many places we have in Kilkee and where it’s being directed from, to me is of no value at all. Maybe I’m alone with my sentiments on this but we had a Fás scheme to the best of my knowledge in Kilkee at one time upwards of 20 people,” she added.
Councillor Marrinan-Sullivan expressed her belief that a Community Employment Scheme is badly needed in the town.
“It’s needed more now than it was even then because the council have had to take a hits in their staff. You see the council workers out there every morning killing themselves to try and keep the town the way it should be. They’re not getting the help from the Community Employment Scheme. I don’t know where we take it from this point to try and find out why we don’t have a scheme like other towns have?” she said.
“When the council staff are under pressure like that all the time, they lose interest in what they’re doing,” Councillor Elaine Haugh Hayes commented.
“It’s needed now more than ever as a back up to the local staff,” Mayor of Kilkee Claire Haugh concurred. The absence of a Fás scheme in Kilkee was also highlighted at the 2012 May and November meetings of Kilkee Town Council.