Is the City Council incompetent?

celty

Just look at the litany of ridiculous disaster in the city over the past five years or so (feel free to add to them) and tell me our City Council is not incompetent.

If they were in the private sector, the people at the top of our Council would be worrying about their jobs.

* Eyre Square revamp (huge cost, for what? Is it any better?)
* Cryptosporidium crisis (households left without water for up to three months, because of poor planning, septic tanks, etc)
* Mervue water crisis
* Winter water freezing (houses without water for a fortnight, over two winters at this stage)
* Galway City Marathon (cancelled due to incompetence / lack of cooperation with organisers)
* General traffic chaos throughout the year (no sign of a plan, no boost to pedestrians, cyclists, or public transport to encourage people to leave their cars at home)
* Moneenageisha junction changeover (made a bad situation far worse)
* Seamus Quirke Road revamp (taking longer than planned, huge disruption, will it make it any better?)
* Art House Cinema (free site from the Council, to close off a lane for a year at least at this stage)
* Current roadworks debacle (three taking place in the same area at the same time, making it impossible for people to cross the city)

... and that's just off the top of my head!

dilallio

I would agree with all of your points but I would give them some allowance for the winter freezing water shortage because it was mainly caused by unprecedented cold spells. In this case however, their communication was poor and reactive rather than proactive.

I think their communication with the public is terrible.

I've emailed / written to them 4 times in almost 3 years and not one person from the city Council has ever responded. 2 of these issues involved immediate public health & safety problems. What is the point in having someone in a public facing job, if they refuse to communicate with the public.

I remember reading in one of the papers (don't have a link), that bonuses were given to some of the managers in the Council for the way they dealt with the cryptosporidium crisis. I work in the private sector and I know if I was in charge when something like this occured, I would either get fired or demoted.

Over the past couple of years we have had the debacle between Padraig Coneelly and the City Council, where one won't talk to the other, etc. The only losers in this are the public. As long as the council managers get their bonuses, and the councillors can pass around the position of mayor in a cosy cartel, nothing will change. This attitude of entitlement has filtered down to a situation where bin-men expect tips at Christmas, and city council engineers expect hampers from contractors.

lucianot

I was about to write a similar post but excluding the frozen pipes, something that happens in all Europe.
About the Monneenageisha junction I believe it actually works better given the amount of traffic involved. The only problem with this junction is that it took more time and more money than planned, something that seems to be endemic of this administration.

scholar007

My own personal opinion is that all people applying for posts in the public / civil service should only be considered if they have worked in the private sector for at least 2 years preferably in a client facing role (thats corporate speak for dealing with customers).

The idea of someone going in a 18 until retirement is ludicrous. They become institutionalised and know that as long as they don't do anything bordering on crazy (well actually I know one or two who have done some mad things and still kept their jobs) then their job is safe.

Customer Service training must also be made mandatory.

Is there a section on Galway Corpos website inviting feedback on the service received?

galah

frozen pipes don't happen all over Europe because in most countries, pipes are buried deep enough and houses are built to at least a minimum standard to avoid these issues (I grew up in Northern Europe, winter could be up to minus 20, and I've NEVER experienced frozen pipes in my life. Ever.)

ANyhoo - the council. I would love to know what makes them fail at every project they put their hands on! Is it just buerocracy? Can't-be-arsedness? Lack of foresight, insight, and even hindsight? Seriously, if I ran my projects at work the way most of the council projects are run, I'd be out of a job in double-quick time.

Eyre Square revamp was a joke - 10 million, and nothing's changed. Westside revamp? Not going to change much, I don't think. Changing roundabouts to junctions - may work, but will inconvenience people A LOT. Any other road works project? Complete disaster, due to unbelivable crap timing, everytime. They've had ALL summer to complete these roadworks while the kids are off - why start NOW when kids are back to school, adding to the frustration?

P*ssed off beyond words, really.

lucianot

galah wrote: »

frozen pipes don't happen all over Europe because in most countries, pipes are buried deep enough and houses are built to at least a minimum standard to avoid these issues (I grew up in Northern Europe, winter could be up to minus 20, and I've NEVER experienced frozen pipes in my life. Ever.)

Ok, you are right on that.

The way the council and mayor is elected means that the council workers have no particular reason to be answerable to the people we elect - there will be a different mayor along in a few months.

If I had my way I would do away with the job for life and replace it with three to five year contracts that would have to be publicly advertised and reapplied for.

I would also get rid of defined benefit pensions meaning there was no particular reason to stay in one sector and allow greater movement between the public and private sectors.

gandroid

Yes.

Master and commander

Are you incompetent that you had to ask that silly question??

I thought it was a given that all local autorities are completely inept. The basic theory being that if you are any good at what you do you go into the private sector or set up a business, and if you are thick as a plank its either the guards or the local councils.

snubbleste

Nobody is going to say No OP.

There is zero accountability for anything that happens in City Hall.

galwaycyclist

Deleted User wrote: »

If I had my way I would do away with the job for life and replace it with three to five year contracts that would have to be publicly advertised and reapplied for.

I would also get rid of defined benefit pensions meaning there was no particular reason to stay in one sector and allow greater movement between the public and private sectors.

Agreed. Another problem in Galway is that many of the Senior officials/engineering staff do not actually live in the city. I would make it a requirement that anyone working for the city council must live in the city.

(That said I am also of the view that it might be best to scrap the city council and merge it with the county - why be consistent)

antoobrien

lucianot wrote: »

About the Monneenageisha junction I believe it actually works better given the amount of traffic involved.

It's interesting how the only people that the only people I hear voicing that opinion are on here. Literally hundreds of people I've talked to about it think it's a joke and has made the situation much worse.

scholar007

galwaycyclist wrote: »

Agreed. Another problem in Galway is that many of the Senior officials/engineering staff do not actually live in the city. I would make it a requirement that anyone working for the city council must live in the city.

How do you know where they live? :eek:

lucianot

antoobrien wrote: »

It's interesting how the only people that the only people I hear voicing that opinion are on here. Literally hundreds of people I've talked to about it think it's a joke and has made the situation much worse.

I may be wrong, but that is how I feel about it.

what_traffic

lucianot wrote: »

I may be wrong, but that is how I feel about it.

You are NOT wrong if you are writing on behalf of pedestrians and cyclists. Change to lights has made a difference for these road users.

Lockstep

Surprised at the experiences that people here have had with the City Council.

A few years ago, a friend of mine borrowed my bag and forgot it somewhere. Got a phone call a week later from City Hall, they'd found it in their building and found a locker stub from NUIG on it. They rang NUIG asking who's locker it was and rang me once they'd gotten my name from NUIG, saying they had my bag there for me.

Was very impressed by this.

snubbleste

So, NUIG gave your details to a third party agency without your authorisation and you're happy?

antoobrien

what_traffic wrote: »

You are NOT wrong if you are writing on behalf of pedestrians and cyclists. Change to lights has made a difference for these road users.

Sorry but as a cyclist I spent 6 years traveling the N6 corridor through all those roundabouts going to NUIG and had 1 problem - after they added a 3rd lane to the inbound road at JJ Flemmings [edit - this was outbound on the tuam road tuirning onto the BNT/Ballybane road] - at which point I switched my route to go to the Monivea road instead.

The addition of traffic lights in woodquay (about 2000/2001) made me use the cycle lanes extra wide footpaths on the quincentenary bridge instead of going through woodquay.

As a motorist it really p*sses me off when I see pedestrians ignoring lights that have been put in place specifically for their benefit.

what_traffic

antoobrien wrote: »

had 1 problem - after they added a 3rd lane to the inbound road at JJ Flemmings.

Glad that you acknowledged this. There was 3 lanes inbound on the roundabout (still are with the traffic controlled junction) on the Dublin Road at Moneen? So esentially you agree that it was difficult to cross; as a pedestrian or where you cycling?

Traffic speeds have been reduced in the area have reduced since the lights have been installed.

As a pedestrian it really p*sses me off when I see motorists ignoring red lights and running through green pedestrian phases.
Everybody is breaking the rules out there. All road users should show consideration to each other.

antoobrien

what_traffic wrote: »

There was 3 lanes inbound on the roundabout (still are with the traffic controlled junction) on the Dublin Road at Moneen?

I didn't come that way I was almost always coming from Wellpark/Cemetary Cross/College Rd, regardless I never had a problem on the Moneen with a bike or on foot. The biggest problem with the moneen was the cars stopping on the roundabout blocking entrances, e.g. you couldn't go onto college road from wellpark because of the traffic attempting to go out the Dublin road (being stopped by a series of traffic lights).

what_traffic wrote: »

Traffic speeds have been reduced in the area have reduced since the lights have been installed.

They were never high in the first place

what_traffic

antoobrien wrote: »

I didn't come that way I was almost always coming from Wellpark/Cemetary Cross/College Rd, regardless I never had a problem on the Moneen with a bike or on foot.

Regardless if you did not cross there do you not agree then that crossing there is comparable with your crossing the inbound road at JJ Flemmings??

antoobrien wrote: »

They were never high in the first place

Never said they where high, only that they have reduced from the pre-existing speeds prior to the conversion.

dloob

antoobrien wrote: »

It's interesting how the only people that the only people I hear voicing that opinion are on here. Literally hundreds of people I've talked to about it think it's a joke and has made the situation much worse.

It must be a conspiracy we're all actually city engineers.
I mainly used the monivea road and found it big improvement after the alterations.
You can also cross it on foot now which was never easy before with the traffic flying down the hill.

As for the current road works, well they need to be done at some point and if they were done earlier there would be moaning about doing it during the races and arts festival.
Overlapping the university road and bridge works is a bit incompetent of course.

celty

Master and commander wrote: »

Are you incompetent that you had to ask that silly question??

I thought it was a given that all local autorities are completely inept. The basic theory being that if you are any good at what you do you go into the private sector or set up a business, and if you are thick as a plank its either the guards or the local councils.

Master and Commander,

I guess my point in asking the 'silly question' was to see if other posters feel as I do. Many seem to agree that there is zero accountability for any decisions made at City Hall.

If they block up the roads, so what.
If we can't drink our water or have a shower, so what.
If they give away a free site to incompetent developers, so what.
If people take 90 minutes to get across town, so what.
If they spend a fortune on making something worse (Eyre Square or Moneenageisha), so what.

Their communcations about road works and closures, water shortages, whatever, seem to be pathetic.

I know Cllr Padraic Conneely has had loads of spats with the officials over the years, but he just comes across as an ego-driven loud mouth who loves the sound of his own voice.

Otherwise, these officials seem to be able to carry on making a mess of things in our city without any sign of reprimand or censure. (In fact, it's the opposite, if they can award themselves bonuses after a debacle like the crypto crisis .. which ensures a lot of us don't trust the tap water even to this day).

By the way, I'd say most of us in the private sector would love the security of a public sector job now (no accountability, no pressure, nice pensions).

antoobrien

what_traffic wrote: »

Regardless if you did not cross there do you not agree then that crossing there is comparable with your crossing the inbound road at JJ Flemmings??

No I don't, the junction at the huntsman has a wider field of vision than Flemmings.

Regarding speeds saying

Traffic speeds have been reduced

implies they were high. I don't see how they could get any lower as it was.

dloob wrote: »

I mainly used the monivea road and found it big improvement after the alterations.

I used to use the Monivea road,but since they changed to lights I avoid it like the plague. Any time I do venture down there I'm at least 15 minutes getting between wellpark grove and the lights.

Wompa1

Just to add to it. I do believe they also took out a 15 million overdraft and..they then paid out the arse to rent big potted plants for the Volvo Ocean race..they were nice but not worth the money they forked out on them. You can nearly bet they are eating away at that overdraft and we'll be feeling that pinch some time down the line. Especially when they were on the brink of going bust.

The fact they piss and moan about different things without offering any suggestions on how to improve them..if that's what they get paid for, we don't need them. Looking at you Padraig!

Mrs OBumble

Firstly, let's clarify are you're talking about city council officials, or about the fine councillors who we all elected?

celty wrote: »

If they were in the private sector, the people at the top of our Council would be worrying about their jobs.

I wonder how they compare to people working in fine private sector organisations like Anglo-Irish, AIB ... and even the Catholic church!

To look at your rant in more detail:

Firstly, the lads who clean up the rubbish, piss and vomit that is deposited on the inner city streets every night are not incompetent - they are FANTASTIC!

The folks who take my rubbish away (and dead horses from certain suburbs!), sponsor the arts festival, keep the streets moderately free of stand alone advertising signs, worked with the Doughiska community to build the park/playground out there, enforce parking regulations so that central city parks get shared around .. aren't bad either.


* Mervue water crisis
Somehow I don't think that the council officials who approved building council houses with lead pipes in 1970s (most probably to save ratepayers money) are still there today.



* Winter water freezing (houses without water for a fortnight, over two winters at this stage)
Builders not burying pipes deep enough to deal with exceptional weather is a council problem?


* Galway City Marathon (cancelled due to incompetence / lack of cooperation with organisers)
I've suspended judgement about this one: not convinced we're heard the full story on either side.


* General traffic chaos throughout the year (no sign of a plan, no boost to pedestrians, cyclists, or public transport to encourage people to leave their cars at home)

There IS a plan to improve public transport infrastructure, and we've seen evidence of it in the time I've been here, including the private bus station, Dublin Rd bus lanes, some council-owned bus shelters (they had to fight with BE to stop shelters that only BE services could use), the Forster St bus lane, and extended Christmas park-and-ride. Other aspects are being worked on eg the Seamus Quirke bus lane (which is upsetting to many people in another thread!). There are some aspects of the plan that are just daft, eg no taxi-stand outside the coach station, the Merlin Woods bus lane and the cathedral terminus before there's a better bridge at the Salmon Weir, but overall they're going in the right direction.

It's worth noting that the councils aren't actually responsible for public transport in Ireland - so if a bus company or the guards want to do something silly (eg two bus stops in Bothár what's it Brendan down from Prospect hill) they council can't actually stop it.


* Moneenageisha junction changeover (made a bad situation far worse)
For a pedestrian, or someone who comes down Wellpark after work in the evening, it's vastly better.


* Seamus Quirke Road revamp (taking longer than planned, huge disruption, will it make it any better?)
See bus lane comment above - you can't have them do nothing and not-nothing at the same tiem.



* Art House Cinema (free site from the Council, to close off a lane for a year at least at this stage)
What should they have done? Refused to be involved with the (private sector managed, btw) project in case something went wrong? Opened the road and let motorists fall thru the giant hole that would appear?


There are problems I have with the council: wasn't overly amused to get a letter threatening to take me off the electoral roll unless I contacted them within ten days ... but it took seven days for the letter to get to me. Opening hours for buying rubbish bags are ridiculously short. Lack of a public transport website (ffs, how come it had to be done by a private individual) .. and I could think of some more.

But overall incompetent is too strong a word, IMHO.

EyeSight

as ive said in the other thread about the terrible roadworks planning atm, i've only been living in galway about 5/6 months now and your city council here seem awful. my 10 minute stress free drive home from work has become a 40 minute journey. if it was due to an accident or something i'd be ok with it, but its due to a lack of common sense which pisses me off.

Also ive recently noticed that on the road by the dunnes stores going towards the terryland roundabout towards tesco, at least twice a week and everyday this week(with the worse traffic) an ambulance and sometimes a garda can will blare its siren and drive through the traffic. surely there's not an emergency at the same time every evening? are they allowed just throw their siren on to skip past traffic without an emergency? anyone else notice this?

Wompa1

Remembered another one. Didn't the council shut off the water without informing the people first..

Iwannahurl

Interesting how many responses to the OP focus on traffic issues.

Galway City Council is seriously dysfunctional, IMO. That doesn't mean everything they do is always wrong, just that getting there is often painful.

Councillors must take some of the blame, but since they're elected then we all get the local politicians that the voters deserve.

Many of the officials are as arrogant as they are incompetent, IMO. There's a seriously lack of accountability, and many of the senior officials believe they are answerable to nobody. Just look at the many spats between Councillors and officials: when the officials don't like what they're hearing they just walk out or ignore what's being said. I wonder how many decisions made by the elected members have just been quietly dropped?

The ultimate problem is our appallingly inefficient, corrupt, centralised and clientelist political system. If we had proper local powers (including revenue raising) and proper local accountability things might be somewhat different.

Just thought of another item to add to the OP's blacklist: failure (or disinclination) to collect development levies during the Celtic Casino years.

http://www.galwaynews.ie/13350-builders-owe-city-council-over-%E2%82%AC5m-unpaid-levies

http://www.galwaynews.ie/20650-city-council-lose-out-harrmack-development-levies






(BTW, that Harrmack story is an interesting one, not least because of certain City Council/developer cosy relationships. Keep an eye on the local news.)

dloob

It's the traffic that we have to suffer through every day.
There are plenty of other issues but it's the one that's in your face.

celty

JustMary wrote: »

Firstly, let's clarify are you're talking about city council officials, or about the fine councillors who we all elected?




I wonder how they compare to people working in fine private sector organisations like Anglo-Irish, AIB ... and even the Catholic church!

To look at your rant in more detail:

Firstly, the lads who clean up the rubbish, piss and vomit that is deposited on the inner city streets every night are not incompetent - they are FANTASTIC!

The folks who take my rubbish away (and dead horses from certain suburbs!), sponsor the arts festival, keep the streets moderately free of stand alone advertising signs, worked with the Doughiska community to build the park/playground out there, enforce parking regulations so that central city parks get shared around .. aren't bad either.


* Mervue water crisis
Somehow I don't think that the council officials who approved building council houses with lead pipes in 1970s (most probably to save ratepayers money) are still there today.



* Winter water freezing (houses without water for a fortnight, over two winters at this stage)
Builders not burying pipes deep enough to deal with exceptional weather is a council problem?


* Galway City Marathon (cancelled due to incompetence / lack of cooperation with organisers)
I've suspended judgement about this one: not convinced we're heard the full story on either side.


* General traffic chaos throughout the year (no sign of a plan, no boost to pedestrians, cyclists, or public transport to encourage people to leave their cars at home)

There IS a plan to improve public transport infrastructure, and we've seen evidence of it in the time I've been here, including the private bus station, Dublin Rd bus lanes, some council-owned bus shelters (they had to fight with BE to stop shelters that only BE services could use), the Forster St bus lane, and extended Christmas park-and-ride. Other aspects are being worked on eg the Seamus Quirke bus lane (which is upsetting to many people in another thread!). There are some aspects of the plan that are just daft, eg no taxi-stand outside the coach station, the Merlin Woods bus lane and the cathedral terminus before there's a better bridge at the Salmon Weir, but overall they're going in the right direction.

It's worth noting that the councils aren't actually responsible for public transport in Ireland - so if a bus company or the guards want to do something silly (eg two bus stops in Bothár what's it Brendan down from Prospect hill) they council can't actually stop it.


* Moneenageisha junction changeover (made a bad situation far worse)
For a pedestrian, or someone who comes down Wellpark after work in the evening, it's vastly better.


* Seamus Quirke Road revamp (taking longer than planned, huge disruption, will it make it any better?)
See bus lane comment above - you can't have them do nothing and not-nothing at the same tiem.



* Art House Cinema (free site from the Council, to close off a lane for a year at least at this stage)
What should they have done? Refused to be involved with the (private sector managed, btw) project in case something went wrong? Opened the road and let motorists fall thru the giant hole that would appear?


There are problems I have with the council: wasn't overly amused to get a letter threatening to take me off the electoral roll unless I contacted them within ten days ... but it took seven days for the letter to get to me. Opening hours for buying rubbish bags are ridiculously short. Lack of a public transport website (ffs, how come it had to be done by a private individual) .. and I could think of some more.

But overall incompetent is too strong a word, IMHO.

Just Mary,

Thanks for your very detailed response. I posed this as a question to see what people think, rather than stating incompetence as a fact and the list of things I came up with was totally off the top of my head. I'm sure there are other issues, too.

My rant was aimed at the officials, rather than the City Councillors, as I believe they are the ones who have the real power at local level. The Councillors squabble all they want about who gets to be Mayor or this road or that, but the officials seem to call the shots in terms of road closures, sorting out water shortages, awarding the ill fated contract for Eyre Square (to a developer who went bust long before the boom), etc.

My rant was certainly NOT aimed at the ordinary Council workers who do such a fab job in cleaning up our city at the crack of dawn or collect your domestic rubbish.

Just to look at a few points again:

* Winter water freezing: Correct me if I'm wrong but it emerged last year that a huge amount of money (millions, was it 25m or something?) had been allocated by the Government to upgrade our public water system, but the Council somehow didn't get around to using this money.

* Mervue water crisis: Fair enough, the officials of 2011 can't be blamed for pipes that were put in in the 1970s. But it was the way they handled the issue and communicated with the public I would take issue with.

* Galway City Marathon. I'd agree that there are two sides to every story, but I'm inclined to believe the Donovans, who are internationally recognised ultra running organisers. They claim the Council obstructed their attempts to run it this year and it's a fact that former Mayor Mike Crowe (ok, he's not an official) wanted the Council to run the marathon themselves. Also the Council failed to provide the Donovans with an idea of what exactly they wanted as a Traffic Management Plan. Instead of helping them improve on an event which admittedly had problems last year, they seemingly obstructed (or at least didn't help) the organisers.

* General traffic chaos: agree some changes have been made. But there is still no sign of a decent, coordinated traffic plan which might encourage people to take the bus or bike to work. Cycling through Galway on a daily basis is a hazard.

* SQR: I pass this road every day. It seems to be taking a lot longer than planned, they've admitted it is running over time, and is it really going to solve or tackle traffic problems in the Westside? We'll see.

* Moneenageisha: Fair enough, if you say it's better for pedestrians and cyclists. I don't use it as often as others here, but the opinion of many boardsters seems to be that the lighted junction has been a disaster.

* Art House cinema: if the council gave the private backers the site for free, then surely they should have some say in why the project has been stalled for so long, why a lane is closed off, why the tender was given to a builder who went out of business, etc. Instead, the officials seem to say it's a matter for the Art House people any time they are asked about it.

* Current road works; having three in the same area all at the one time seems ridiculous. And then I see the official responsible claim in the paper today that traffic is always very heavy in the "third week of August". Really? Do they think these things through? Why carve open three major roads at the same time so?

Anyway, it seems that a lot of people are unhappy with our senior officials and I'd stress that my rant is not aimed at ordinary Council workers.

celty

Just another example of what I would consider to be incompetence.

Galway City Council asked the rickshaw operators of Galway to get licences, and made it illegal for them to operate without any. But the rickshaw operators had to wait months for Garda clearance only to find, when they got it, that dozens of illegal guys were still operating without licences in the city centre.

When the legal guys complained to the Council, they said their staff (wardens) did not work late at night (the hours when the rickshaw guys actually work). They only seemingly work office hours.

When they complained to the Gardai, they said it was a matter for the Council.

So there was no enforcement. Can anybody tell me what was the point of a long, slow process which invovled rickshaw operators having to apply for licences for which there is no enforcement?

KittyeeTrix

celty wrote: »

Just Mary,

* Current road works; having three in the same area all at the one time seems ridiculous. And then I see the official responsible claim in the paper today that traffic is always very heavy in the "third week of August". Really? Do they think these things through? Why carve open three major roads at the same time so?

Excactly the same thought I had when I heard this...........Why carve open three major roads at the same time so?

Makes absolutely no sense at all and if anything shows their total ineptness through and through!!

Dave Joyce

This attitude of entitlement has filtered down to a situation where bin-men expect tips

Christ talk about arrogance! I would love to know how deduced this??? I certainly can't speak for everyone, but the lads I know CERTAINLY don't expect tips at Christmas from YOU or anyone for that matter!

By the way, I'd say most of us in the private sector would love the security of a public sector job now (no accountability, no pressure, nice pensions).

Hmm, I seem to remember guys in the private sector sneering at US during the boom times asking did we not have ANY ambition to go out and make some money instead of been stuck in a ****ty job.....now all of a sudden, WE'RE the lucky ones!! Just to stop you generalising anymore, we ARE accountable if we miss bins, stuff spills (from considerate people who overload/stuff their bins) etc. Regardless of what YOU think, there is pressure/stress EVERYDAY, thankfully from a minority of ASSHOLES who seem to blame us for them having a crap day. Finally, you'ed want to research your facts a bit better or stop believing all the media shi'te bout pensions. IF I last to the 30yrs, I can guarantee you, my pension WILL be shi'te and will be less than the State pension by a long shot. One of my colleagues retired recently after 35 YEARS and I can tell you he worked his bollocks off for those years and his pension is NOTHING like you're presuming.

dilallio

Dave Joyce wrote: »

Christ talk about arrogance! I would love to know how deduced this??? I certainly can't speak for everyone, but the lads I know CERTAINLY don't expect tips at Christmas from YOU or anyone for that matter!

Hi Dave - I can see from my post that I might come across as arrogant, but I did not 'deduce' this.

Despite paying in City Hall for my bins to be collected, when the City Council truck came 3 weeks in a row after this, they refused to collect my bins. The lads told me that I had not paid.

I called up to City Hall where the girl told me that there was a sensor on the truck which must not have been updated! She was able to verify that I'd paid and said she would sort it out.

On the 3rd week, the week just before Christmas, the rubbish was building up so much with the same story from the binman, that I ended up giving him a tenner to take the waste. 5 weeks later the same thing happened again but this time I switched to Citybin.

I agree with previous posters that the people on the streets do a fantastic job, but my experience on the 4 times contacting the office staff is they never, not even once, replied to me. I am not including my converstation with the girl in the Refuse section in this list of 4.

I can see your frustration, when you read stuff that does not apply to you or any of your immediate colleagues, but it's also frustrating when you have to deal with someone who never gets back, or does what they are paid to do. Unfortunately, this will effect the perception of the entire City Council.

Iwannahurl

celty wrote: »

Just another example of what I would consider to be incompetence.

Galway City Council asked the rickshaw operators of Galway to get licences, and made it illegal for them to operate without any. But the rickshaw operators had to wait months for Garda clearance only to find, when they got it, that dozens of illegal guys were still operating without licences in the city centre.

When the legal guys complained to the Council, they said their staff (wardens) did not work late at night (the hours when the rickshaw guys actually work). They only seemingly work office hours.

When they complained to the Gardai, they said it was a matter for the Council.

So there was no enforcement. Can anybody tell me what was the point of a long, slow process which invovled rickshaw operators having to apply for licences for which there is no enforcement?

Pure laziness on the part of AGS, IMO. I would have thought that AGS had powers to enforce local by-laws. I also suspect they have a role in the approval of such regulations, though I am open to correction on that point.

It is extremely frustrating for law-abiding people when the authorities show no interest in enforcing the law. I am just fed up with watching the Council and AGS casually ignoring all sorts of misbehaviour right under their noses. Many of them just can't be arsed.

Lockstep

snubbleste wrote: »

So, NUIG gave your details to a third party agency without your authorisation and you're happy?

Yup, helped me find my bag which had some valuable stuff inside it when they had otherwise no other way to contact me.

Delighted with them.

c_man

Is the City Council incompetent?

In my experience, a resounding yes. I wouldn't even know where to start with all the ****e I've encountered in my limited dealings over the years.

The only good thing about them is the nonsense stories that make it to the local rags, if it involves Padraig Conneelly all the better!

celty

Iwannahurl wrote: »

Pure laziness on the part of AGS, IMO. I would have thought that AGS had powers to enforce local by-laws. I also suspect they have a role in the approval of such regulations, though I am open to correction on that point.

It is extremely frustrating for law-abiding people when the authorities show no interest in enforcing the law. I am just fed up with watching the Council and AGS casually ignoring all sorts of misbehaviour right under their noses. Many of them just can't be arsed.

Iwannahurl,

Surely it would also be possible for the Council to get their wardens to work one or two late nights in the summer, to enforce their own byelaws. If it's not, why bother bringing in byelaws which they never enforce anyway?

It's a bit like the on-street drinking. We have really tough laws which only seem to be enforced when it's convenient or there's a festival on.

I would consider it a pretty trivial matter for Gardai when hundreds of drunken revellers are spilling out of the pubs and late bars for them to spend time checking the licences of rickshaw operators.

xflyer

Davejoyce don't personalise it, no one is having a go at you and you pals. But you live in this town too I presume. You can't have missed the continuing series of cock ups and traffic chaos in Galway.

JustMary, your answers while all very interesting unfortunately is similar to the kind of replies you might get from a city official. Excuses, excuses. All of the issues mentioned were real problems and all were mishandled one way or another by the council and it's people.

Well I had plenty of time to think about the council's failings in the last few days because I found it neccessary to travel across town in my car several times. It is an utter shambles and inexcusable.

The traffic situation has been an ongoing blot on this town. When I first moved here five years ago. I was astonished to find traffic jams worse than Dublin, particularly that remarkable phenomenon, unique I think to Galway. The simultaneous traffic jam in both directions. In five years things have got worse. Whose fault is that, well no one as it happens because apparently there is zero accountability.

The cryptospiridium issue. Well that sickened me literally. Worse still it happened just as my first son was born. I could very easily have given it to him. Again the council didn't cover themselves in glory fixing that issue.

Then again I lived in Mervue, lead in the water next, the same son with elevated lead levels. It just gets better. Months on bottled water or out of tanks. They put in a standpipe outside the house but that was contaminated too. And I had to pay to get connected to the clean water. All through the event it was difficult to get any information out of them and very little communication. Thank you city council:mad:

So it goes on particularly the traffic jams which seem endless now. But are apparently impossible to solve.

So the answer is yes. They are incompetent. I personally think that certain individuals in certain departments should be named and shamed and then replaced with someone who can actually do the job.

Dave Joyce

Despite paying in City Hall for my bins to be collected, when the City Council truck came 3 weeks in a row after this, they refused to collect my bins. The lads told me that I had not paid.

I called up to City Hall where the girl told me that there was a sensor on the truck which must not have been updated! She was able to verify that I'd paid and said she would sort it out.

On the 3rd week, the week just before Christmas, the rubbish was building up so much with the same story from the binman, that I ended up giving him a tenner to take the waste. 5 weeks later the same thing happened again but this time I switched to Citybin.

Hey Dilallio, I can definately understand your frustration at that but we encounter this from the opposite end. There ARE times when the chip in the bin is faulty and the bin will not lift and we CANNOT do anything, even if we want to help someone out as the bin won't even lift manually. A huge amount of times people have got openly hostile with us for not taking their bin and when we try to explain about the chip problem it freaks them out even more like as if we're talking shi'te. Just as a matter of interest, we have (and have had for a number of years) one of the lowest numbers of local authority workers in the country so we are incredibly short staffed at nearly all LOWER levels of outdoor and City Hall staff.

Davejoyce don't personalise it, no one is having a go at you and you pals.

Well I'll tell you what, when people STOP generalising, them perhaps I won't personalise it. I'm sick of hearing how lucky I (and others) are right now while a few short years ago, we were slackers who had no ambition!! This happens across the board and we rarely get a chance to address the mis-truths eg

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/your-binmans-pension-better-than-yours-2853831.html

But you live in this town too I presume. You can't have missed the continuing series of cock ups and traffic chaos in Galway.

Of course I have to commute to work like everyone else but as an employee, its rather difficult to express what your true feelings are and it has been said to me that stuff I have posted on boards.ie has been noticed before. Have you publicly criticised your employers by any chance??

celty

Dave Joyce,

I would say the vast majority of posts here, if not ALL, are about the officials in the suits who make the decisions that affect all our lives in Galway and certainly not the people out in the front line delivering services, collecting our refuse, cleaning our streets, emptying the bins in the city centre, etc.

Most of us would never imagine saying anything bad about the people who collect the bins every week or clean up around the Spanish Arch at the crack of dawn after a rare sunny day.

As for the suits in City Hall who decided to put on three sets of road works in the same part of town at the same time, with little or no notice, that's another matter ....

When they then blame the traffic problems on people buying school books, the people have a right to be angry. The whole thing is a sick joke.

yer man!

In response to the closure of the right hand lane in the docks at the arts cinema, why couldn't they divert traffic onto new docks street and back onto spanish parade? they built a traffic island where that road is to prevent any traffic from the docks using it which just seems like the stupidest thing ever. I know it was initially built to stop people taking a shortcut but afaik they built it around the same time they closed the other lane. By diverting the right hand lane on the docks onto this road and back onto spanish parade they (city council) could relieve an awful lot of traffic.

celty

So Galway City Council held a four hour meeting last night to discuss the traffic crisis ... and it ended up a slagging match at which they shouted across the chamber at each other and nothing got done.

The Gardai were invited to attend, but decided not to bother (probably a wise move).

I know it is a medieval city which is not able for so many cars on the road, but these are the people we elect or pay to run our city, provide services, and get traffic moving.

What a bunch of incompetent gombeens. We'll probably hear sometime next year that the officials decided to pay themselves bonuses because of the way they coped with the stress during the traffic crisis.

I'm sure it cost money and expenses for the 'officials' and 'councillors' to attend last night's meeting. Another waste of our taxes on people who don't seem to be willing or able to do the jobs they are paid to do.

Maybe Galway people need to cycle more, use car pools, and public transport.

But is there a more incompetent local authority in Ireland? I doubt it.

GalwayGaillimh

Well someone in the City Council realised we have a traffic problem a long time ago as they only open till 4pm every day so they all get home before college road gets gridlocked at 4.30pm, I say make them all work till 5pm like everyone else and then perhaps they might have an incentive to sort the traffic issue out.

Are the Council Incompetent? Most Likely....

Iwannahurl

There is a view that the Mayor called the meeting (using the prerogative of the office) mainly for optics.

What could a single crisis meeting achieve that hasn't been tried before?

As for the Council being "only open till 4pm" I don't think that's true, though I'm open to correction. IIRC, the phones close at 4pm, but the staff are still at work.

Being a Galway City Council employee must be as popular now as a being a HSE administrator.

I wouldn't personalise this, but I would question the productivity of some sections of the Council.

Unfortunately, as is usual in Ireland, there is no accountability and ultimately nobody responsible. Therefore, despite the elected members being a core part of the local authority, obviously, there is no direct mechanism for ensuring that good public policy is implemented effectively.

Sniipe

What motivates a public sector worker in the city council?

slideshow bob

to fix up da water problems. water problems not expected to resurface.

photo taken just a few days ago near seamus quirke road watermain.

celty

Slideshow Bob,

I'd say you doctored that photo, because Eugene was on holidays last week