Kilkenny County Council Cathaoirleach Michael Doyle meets An Taoiseach in Government Buildings

Kilkenny County Council Cathaoirleach Cllr Michael Doyle met with An Taoiseach and Fine Gael Party Leader, Leo Varadkar, in Government Buildings last Tuesday evening (4^th July).

The Taoiseach, along with all of his senior Ministers, met with the 13 Fine Gael Councillors who have recently been elected as the first citizen of their county.

Councillor Doyle, who was elected as Cathaoirleach in June, outlined his main priorities for his term.

“I want to progress and deliver cluster housing guidelines for rural areas; this is an objective in the county development plan and will allow our villages in rural area’s development a small number of housing units in areas that are not serviced by either water or wastewater. The Rower Inistioge has been suggested as an area to trial this as a pilot project.

“I also want to progress the flood defence funding that was announced back in 2017, five towns and villages were awarded substantial funding to address flooding, to date Graignamanagh and Ballyhale have progressed to consultation stage while Inistioge, Thomastown and Freshford have yet to proceed to any level.

“I will also continue to support the many voluntary groups that work tirelessly to keep our communities looking fantastic and to support groups who are working and engaging with the local authority to improve and develop their own communities.”

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said: “I had a good two-hour meeting with Councillor Michael Doyle in Government Buildings last Tuesday evening to discuss the issues that matter to the people of Kilkenny. The meeting gave Councillor Doyle the opportunity to raise these issues directly with me. I committed to Councillor Doyle to work on these issues.

“The need for more funding this year for local and regional road maintenance, a top up allocation for the Local Improvement Scheme and, in the coming years, funding to advance new road projects that are delayed, the urgent need to service much more land for housing were raised at the meeting. On energy security and climate, they impressed on me the need to increase aid to farmers, schools, community buildings and businesses to install solar panels and become energy efficient.

“I look forward to working with Councillor Doyle and visiting Kilkenny during his term as Cathaoirleach.”

Fine Gael is making a real impact in communities through the hard work of our local representatives. With 13 Mayors/Cathaoirligh across the country Fine Gael is representing stronger, safer communities in every part of the country.

ENDS