Councillor Thomas O’Reilly, Chairman of Fermanagh and Omagh Statutory Transition Committee and Councillor Sean Begley, Vice-Chairman of Fermanagh and Omagh Statutory Transition Committee pictured with Mr Brendan Hegarty, who has been appointed Clerk and Chief Executive of the new Council for the Fermanagh and Omagh District.
BRENDAN HEGARTY has been confirmed as the Clerk and Chief Executive of the new Fermanagh and Omagh Council and has said everything possible will be done to ensure that all the staff working within the councils are retained once the two bodies are formally amalgamated next year.
“What we can be sure of is that all staff will transfer to the new organisation and that everything in the power of the new council will be done to slot members of staff into their existing roles,” he said.
“If there aren’t opportunities in the work area where people are currently employed, then every effort will be made to redeploy them into suitable alternative employment. We will be working very carefully with the elected representatives to identify opportunities for all of our staff and are fully committed to that.
“There will undoubtedly be some re-organisation involved, but it is too early to predict what the outcome of that will be other than to reassure staff that everyone will be transferred.”
Current Fermanagh District Council Chief Executive Hegarty was one of a number of candidates who interviewed for the advertised position and will start work as Clerk and Chief Executive designate in the near future to lead the preparations and convergence work for the new council in the run up to it taking over from the current two councils on April 1 2015. He will then take up the position of Clerk and Chief Executive of the new Council from this date.
The new Chief Executive singled out community development as a major priority and expressed the hope that his strong family connections to both the Fermanagh and Omagh areas would prove to be an advantage.
“The Fermanagh and Omagh areas are familiar to me which will be a help. My wife is from the Omagh area, we live in Enniskillen and have very close connections to the two localities. I am very committed to the area, our family roots are embedded here and this is a fantastic opportunity for me.”
Mr Hegarty also cited the new requirement of planning and community development as a major area of priority which carried with it a key responsibility for the revamped local government district.
“There will be a new role for the council in working with other agencies and the community and voluntary sector. That partnership and how it evolves will be vital, and planning at a local level will very much drive the development of the new council,” he said.
“Community planning will involve government agencies working with the voluntary sector to identify a shared vision for the development of the area. The big challenge will then to be work together to deliver the objectives which are identified.
“My view is that there is significant potential in relation to this, but it’s important that the priorities are met in the timescales set out. But we cannot ignore the factor of what resources will be available.”
Mr Hegarty told the Herald the new council would have an identity of its own, separate from the two existing Fermanagh and Omagh councils adding that the thorny issue of rates was one that referred to many of the new councils and was being addressed by Stormont.
It is, he said, hoped that that the proposals emerging from that process would be examined as to how they could best be implemented for the new council which will be the largest geographically of the 11 new local government bodies.
Along with the appointment of Mr Hegarty local Sinn Fein councillor Thomas O’Reilly was announced as the Chair to the Fermanagh and Omagh Statutory Transition Committee with Omagh Sinn Fein Councillor Sean Begley his Vice-Chair.
Elections to the new 11 councils will take place on May 22, 2014. At this stage the new councils will operate in ‘shadow form’ until they take over on 1 April 2015. During this period it will be business as usual for the current 26 councils.
To read more.. Subscribe to current edition
Receive quality journalism wherever you are, on any device. Keep up to date from the comfort of your own home with a digital subscription.
Any time | Any place | Anywhere