COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, July 12, 2010

QUESTION NO. 5

QUESTION: Councillor E. Coburn

To ask the Manager to report on any agreement between the council and staff unions with regard to the engaging of external contractors and community employment schemes to carry out environmental works such as grass cutting ?

REPLY:

Notwithstanding Section 149 and  Section 159 of the Local Government Act 2001 detailing the Managers function in relation to employees, there are a number of agreements between the Council and Unions representing staff covering a variety of matters including the engagement of contractors. The Manager operates having regard to these agreements.

South Dublin County Council has a well established and successful history of interagency co-operation with current and previous placement programmes, especially the Community Employment Scheme targeted at people who are long term unemployed. South Dublin County Council currently has 117 Community Employment participants assigned to schemes in Community Centres, Tallaght Stadium, Fettercairn Horse Project etc. The Council also has a long history of engagement with the Probation Service who have been partners in a number of initiatives throughout the years.  As part of this programme the Probation Service remove graffiti from public spaces under the direction of the Council.

No specific discussions have been held with Union representatives regarding the assignment of C.E. participants or the engagement of contractors to undertake grass cutting. The employment of contracts is subject to resource availability.