Mar Mhéara ar Chontae Mhuineacháin, don bhliain ‘06/’07, tá áthas orm an tuarascáil do 2006 a chur i láthair.

It has given me great pleasure to have been elected Mayor of County Monaghan in 2006 for the third time.  Since 2001, when I last held this position, there has been significant progress in the infrastructure of the country.  The Carrickmacross bypass and Monaghan bypass have now been opened and great progress is being made on the Castleblayney bypass, which is expected to open in August 2007.  We now need to switch our attention to National, Secondary and Regional roads as well as our county roads.  The opening of the new Monaghan Leisure Centre, which is a state of the art facility is welcomed and is already proving to be a great attraction for the people of the county and surrounding areas.

Work on the new County Development Plan for the period 2006 – 2012 began in 2004 and culminated in the publication of the Draft Development Plan in April 2006.  The Plan provides a vision and outlook for the future development of the county up to  2012 with a longer term view taken beyond 2012.  An unprecedented series of public meetings where held throughout the county and members of the public were invited to make submissions and observations on the plan and its implications for the county.  The Manager’s report was produced and the elected Members held a number of meetings to consider these recommendations.  It is expected that the draft County Development plan will be adopted early in 2007.

On the housing front I welcome the completion of two large housing developments – one on the Convent Lands, Carrickmacross and one at Bree, together with a number of other smaller developments throughout the county.  The houses will go some way towards reducing the numbers on the housing waiting lists, however a lot yet needs to be done on this front.

In response to the Disability Act 2005 a detailed programme of work is ongoing.  This work aims to make Council services more accessible to people with disabilities.  One of the most successful projects undertaken this year was the Street Access Audit Programme, which engaged the assistance of people with disabilities to identify access issues on the streets of the county with a view to removing them and making the streets more accessible.

The projects mentioned above are only a few of those undertaken in 2006 – the report details the large volume of work, which has, been undertaken under the various services.

In conclusion, I would like to thank the Members, Manager and Staff of the Council for their assistance to me during my term as Meara an Chontae.