Manor council office still in limbo
By Rodney Farry
Confusion reigns over when Leitrim County Council’s new office in the Backlands development in Manorhamilton will open.
For a number of months, rumours have circulated around the town regarding the status of the office and the lack of activity at the development.
While the council have consistently denied that there are any problems, the news that there is no fixed date for its opening is certain to raise local scepticism.
Local councillor, Michael Colreavy submitted a question at this month’s council meeting enquiring when the office would be completed.
In the written response, Aideen McGovern, Senior Executive Officer in the Change Management Unit, stated that the council has sought a meeting with the developer to resolve a “number of outstanding issues” relating to the purchase contract.
When contacted by the Leitrim Post about whether the office would open in 2008, the council official Ms McGovern, was unable to give a guarantee.
“We don’t have a time frame. As far as we’re concerned we’re in the discussions with the developer in relation to the contract. We would expect it to open at some stage in 2008, but we don’t have a definite day.”
Asked if the project was behind schedule, Ms McGovern replied, “there was never a specific date but we would have envisaged that it would have been further advanced at this stage.”
Meanwhile, Cllr Colreavy has said that he is unhappy with the answer he received about a completion date.
“It doesn’t shed any light on the question. I’m going to ask is there a date on it and are there penalty clauses applying if the date isn’t achieved. There was a great spurt of work on it, but it seems to have slowed to a creep if not a stop and that’s the bit that worries me.”
