Council Archives

Board will drive Kildare forward

Fri 21 Apr 2000

Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy launched the 27 person board which is now charged with preparing a strategy plan which will look at economic, social and cultural development issues in the county. This will create a vision for Kildare over the next decade and this document must be considered when all development plans are drafted in Kildare.

The board consists of representatives from all the social partners and includes development agencies, statutory bodies, trade unions, agriculture and farming as well as community group members.

County Manager, Niall Bradley told the launch at St. Mary’s, Naas, on Friday that it was impossible to over stress the importance of the board. He described the County Development Board as facilitating participative democracy and added members will have an important role in managing issues relating to the growth that has taken place in Kildare”

Minister McCreevy told the board members much more can be achieved if all the organisations represented have a common bond, not imposed from above. He said the unprecedented growth in demand for housing and public services that has affected Kildare will, no doubt, impact on the work of the board.

“By working together, to a shared vision, the sum of all your efforts, will be much more than your individual contribution”, added the Minister. He pointed out working groups within the board will be established to ensure the broadest possible approach to strategy development.

“It will be especially important to enable the whole community to have its say and to ensure that no individual or group feels excluded from the process. This is a vital element of a socially inclusive approach”, he added.

Chairperson of Kildare County Council PJ Sheridan said he was convinced that the co-operation of the various interests represented on CDB and in the wider community will ensure it can chart a way forward for all. He noted the challenges faced by the major growth in Kildare and added they required to be managed to benefit the population at large. “It should be a key target of CDB to ensure that all of the population benefits from the fruits of our recent progress”, he added.

Chairperson of the County Development Board is Councillor Timmy Conway. Recalling the mid 1980s when Kildare County Council was “bankrupt” he said the county had come a long way since. He told of working on the buildings in London when someone called “Paddy” to the nine Irish lads sitting around a table. “We all turned around. We had lost our identity, lost or name and lost everything”, added Timmy who said he was lucky in that he came home to be educated. He said the members of the board are people who drive things in Kildare.

The members of the Kildare County Development Board are: Local Government - Councillors Timmy Conway, PJ Sheridan, Catherine Murphy, Sean O Fearghail, Mary Glennon and County Manager Niall Bradley; Local Development: Donal Dalton (CEO, County Enterprise Board), Paddy Brennan (Chair County Enterprise Board); Justin Larkin (CEO, KELT); Ciaran Duggan (Chairperson KELT); Sheila O’Meara, OAK Partnership. Statutory Bodies: Eddie Prendergast (FAS); Colm O Ceannabhain, CEO Kildare VEC; Kevin McCarthy (IDA); Vincent Coleman (Enterprise Ireland); Harry Lynch (Regional Manager MERTO); Con Feighery (CEO Teagasc); Kevin Ward (South Western Area Health Board); Maureen Waldron (Regional Manager, Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs); Chief Supt Sean Feeley (Chief Superintendent). Social Partners: Business - Michael Mullally (Millennium Park); Trade Unions - John Delmer, (Kildare Centre for the Unemployed); Agriculture farming - Ger Smith, Newbridge; Community - voluntary, Gail Maher, Timahoe West and Aidan Keane, Kilcock.