When Labour Councillor Emma Cutlip asked Louth County Council recently how many trade apprentices they had hired in the last five years she was told in no uncertain terms that “Staffing is an executive matter.”
Cllr Cutlip said she was “deeply disappointed” at this response adding that it should be a matter of public record.
CEO Joan Martin reiterated that staffing is a matter for the executive and that the Councillor was welcome to draw whatever inferences she may wish.
“The inference I draw is that this council, like many councils across the country is uninterested in directly employing tradespeople and operatives to maintain properties and streets around our counties and providing local employment” Cllr Cutlip said.
“County Councils were once an anchor employer of trade apprentices – plumbers, carpenters, painters and more – who gained opportunities to learn a trade and be gainfully employed in their own local area, taking pride in their work maintaining council property across the area. This is not happening anymore, and I would like to know why”.
“In my short time on the council, I have repeatedly heard how the council have trouble keeping up with maintenance of properties and of the public realm due to staff availability and resources.
“If they aren’t hiring trades apprentices, how can they ever hope to have the skills, knowledge, and experience necessary to make Drogheda the best it can be?
“The Local Authority has responsibility in law to provide for housing needs, and it seems that without staff to maintain properties Local Authorities will simply outsource what have always been local jobs.”
