By Cianna McNally

Tempers flared at the July meeting of Monaghan County Council on Monday when Fine Gael councillor Owen Bannigan voiced concern over information he had received that claimed the Ballybay Agricultural Office is to close on 15 December with the loss of 50 jobs.

Councillor Bannigan stated that staff in the office had been told by a senior official last week that the office is to close. He described the news as a major issue for Ballybay and the county as a whole and said the traders in the town would suffer the most. “This is not scaremongering, it is a fact. This closure is not in the best interests of the farming community, the people of Ballybay or Monaghan County Council,” Cllr Bannigan declared. He proposed that the council would send a letter requesting an urgent meeting with Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith and if a meeting was secured that representatives from Ballybay Town Council and Ballybay Economic Forum would also be present.

However, Fianna Fáil councillor Seamus Coyle strongly refuted Cllr Bannigan’s claims accusing him of “headline grabbing.” He said that he had spoken directly to Minister Smith and the information Cllr Bannigan had was totally wrong. “I’ll take the Minister at his word, the office is not closing and all this talk of it closing is damaging the long-term status of the town,” stated Cllr Coyle. Party colleague John O’Brien agreed with Cllr Coyle saying that Cllr Bannigan’s comments were “political opportunism.” Cllr O’Brien asked Cllr Bannigan to name the senior official who relayed the news to the staff but the Fine Gael councillor refused to do so. Sinn Féin’s Brian McKenna described the issue as similar to what had happened with Monaghan Hospital. “Ministers will deny everything until the bitter end, there is no smoke without fire. I hope the news isn’t true but it wouldn’t surprise me if the office did close as there are cutbacks and departments are looking to save money at the moment,” said Cllr McKenna.

Fine Gael’s Gary Carville declared that it was not an issue of scaremongering. “The track record of the Government is not good regarding statements that places aren’t closing. We need to get cast iron guarantees on this so we can fight the case on behalf of Ballybay and its people.” Sinn Féin’s Sheila McKenna said that she had been informed by her niece who is a vet that the office will close. Cllr Aidan Murray seconded party colleague Cllr Bannigan’s proposal to request an urgent meeting with Minister Smith and said there was a “terrible fear” amongst people regarding the news. Cllr Pádraig McNally said that while “nobody knows” what the senior official said negative publicity would not help the issue. He added that he would accept the goodwill from Minister Smith that the Ballybay office was not closing and said if it did close the staff would all have to be transferred within the Department which he believed made no economic sense. “All this is a rumour and it’s time we stopped talking on the basis of rumours.”

Cllr Hugh McElvaney believed there was no harm in requesting a meeting with Minister Smith and said the council needed to unite to ensure the office did not close. “We need to be realistic, Minister Smith is taking all to Cavan to ensure his re-election. He doesn’t care tuppence about local farmers as he moved the services from Monaghan Hospital over to Cavan,” declared Cllr McElvaney. Cllr Robbie Gallagher said that the councillors needed to consider foremost of the 50 people concerned. “We have to be responsible and think of the effect this issue may have on people. We’ll get no business done if we discuss rumours. The office is not closing, let’s not overplay this.” Cllr Bannigan concluded the discussion by stating that he was not scaremongering and he sincerely hoped that what Minister Smith said was true and the office would not be closing.