The Corporate Affairs Department is responsible for the provision and management of a very wide range of services, which include County Council Meetings, Building Administration, Corporate Planning, Organisation Development, Franchise, Policy Research.

 

Register of Electors:

A Register of Electors is produced annually. The Register is a list of all persons over 18 years of age resident in the County who are entitled to vote in Elections to the Dail, European Assembly, Presidential, Local Elections and Referenda.

Local Electoral Area

Ballyragget

Callan

Kilkenny

Kilkenny City

Piltown

Thomastown

 

The Draft Register is printed on the 1st November of every year and distributed to Post Offices, Libraries, and Garda Stations thus providing people with the opportunity to check if they were on the Draft Register. A website is also available for this purpose www.checktheregister.ie

The Live Register is subsequently published on 1st February and comes into force on the 15th February.

 

Supplement to the Register: A person who is qualified to be registered but, for any reason, is not included on the published register, may apply to be included on a supplement to the register before the fourteenth day before polling day (Sundays, Public Holidays and Good Friday are excluded). Following the Electoral Amendment Act, 2001 applications to be included on the supplement to the Register of Electors must now be witnessed by a member of the Gárda Siochana.

Under the provisions of the Electoral (Amendment) Act, 2001, a person who is on a Register of Electors and moves residence from one constituency to another constituency or from one local electoral area to another local electoral area, can apply for entry onto the supplement at their new address, provided the person authorises the appropriate local authority to delete their name from their old address.

 

Ombudsman Complaints

Complaints received	4
Complaints responded to	4

 

Number of Council Meetings + Payments to Councillors

Number of Council Meetings, Committee Meetings Held from 1st January, 2009 to 31st December, 2009.

No. of Ordinary Monthly Meetings.	11	Woodstock	0
Annual Meeting.	1	Goul Joint Drainage	2
Special Meetings of the Council.	2	County Development Board	3
Estimates.	1	Corporate Policy Group	9
Thomastown Electoral Area.	5	Water Safety	4
Kilkenny Electoral Area.	5	Joint Policy Committee	2
Callan Electoral Area.	4	County Kilkenny Leader Partnership	8
Piltown Electoral Area.	6	Kilkenny Community Action Network (KCAN)	11
Ballyragget Electoral Area.	3	County Enterprise Board	7
Rural Water Monitoring.	3	Draft Development Plan	0
Traveller Accommodation	3	Briefing	1
SPC1 - Economic Development & Planning Policy	3	Rapid AIT	8
SPC2 - Infrastructure, Transportation, Water Services & Other	3
SPC3 - Environmental Policy including Sanitary Services, Fire Services, Emergency Planning	3
SPC4 - Housing Policy, Social	2
SPC5 - Arts, Culture, Heritage, Tourism, Education	4

 

Payments to Councillors

Monthly Allowance :	€128,414.14
Training and Education Allowance, Incl. Conference Fees	€109,314.14
Representational Payment :	€455,979.28
SPC Allowance :	€30,000.00
Chairpersons Allowance :	€34,082.88
Vice Chairperson :	€8,470.80

 

 

 

Workplace Partnership in Kilkenny County and City Councils

The main focus of Workplace Partnership in 2009 was to act as the primary vehicle for information and consultation with staff regarding how the current financial crisis is affecting Kilkenny County Council, in particular its delivery of services and its affect on staff. During the year the County Manager met with the Partnership committee and the broader Handling Significant Change group on four occasions. There were also updates given by management at each of the partnership meetings held during the year.

Amongst the issues facing Kilkenny Local Authorities arising from the economic downturn has been:-

• The cutting of funding to local authorities from central funding.
• The substantial decreases in income from commercial rates.
• The substantial decline in capital income arising from decreases in Development Contributions.
• The difficulties that arise for staff and for delivery of service arising from the staffing embargo, early retirement schemes and the non renewal of contracts for temporary and contract staff.

At the Handling Significant Change Meeting held in December 2009 the County Manager acknowledged the work that had been done by staff in the difficult circumstances throughout the year.

Whilst the impact of the economic crisis was the main focus, a number of items were progressed through the work of the partnership committee and the various working groups:-

• A protocol document was signed off in January 2009 setting out how issues should be dealt with through the partnership forum.
• A Child Protection Policy was signed off at the July meeting of the main partnership committee following much preparatory work by a working group.
• The Kilkenny Local Authorities Fraud & Corruption Policy was agreed.
• The revised Dignity at Work Policy was agreed.
• Considerable progress was made during the latter part of the year by a Partnership Working Group looking at on call arrangements.
• Education schemes continue to be progressed through the partnership forum such as Return to Learning, The FETEC Accredited training and grants supporting third level studies.
• The Junior Achievement Programme was continued during 2009 with 400 students being visited by Junior Achievement volunteers employed by Kilkenny County Council.

Updates and information were given on the following items which form part of the change agenda.

• Presentation made on the shared services programme.
• Presentation  made on water services.
• During the year a number of presentations were made updating the committee regarding the closure of Dunmore Landfill.
• Updates were given on the South East Joint Waste Management Plan.

Health Promotion continued to be a focus of the partnership process with a further extensive staff health screening programme being carried out in September -October 2009. Kilkenny Local Authorities promotion of health within the workplace as driven by the partnership process was recognised internationally when Kilkenny County Council was shortlisted as part of The Move Europe Programme and Kilkenny Local Authorities were awarded Silver certificate in October 2009.

Seamus Hogan who was Union Joint Chair for the Kilkenny Local Authorities Partnership Committee for a number of years stepped down from that position in March 2009. It was agreed that Shay Burke of the SIPTU Union would take over the position of Union Joint Chair. All participants thanked Seamus for his great contribution to the process over the past number of years, often in very difficult circumstances and wished Shay the best of luck in his position.

The breakdown in national talks which occurred just before Christmas has had serious implications for the partnership process both at national and local level. However, all participants at the significant change meeting held on 21st December, 2009 agreed there would be an ongoing need for some forum be it under the official heading of Workplace Partnership or under the broader information and consultation process that management, unions and staff meet to share information and discuss how best to implement policies with implications for staff and for the general public which Kilkenny Local Authorities serve.