Council will seek advice in relation to civic offices

SOUTH Dublin County Council are taking “expert advice” to modernise their growing workforce, and this will include looking at how best to utilise Clondalkin civic offices.

According to a 2022 gender pay gap report, the council had approximately 1,350 employees, but their workforce has increased over the last year.

Speaking at the February council meeting, Cllr William Carey (SF) expressed concern that the Clondalkin civic centre on Ninth Lock Road is under utilised and contains “wasted space.”

“I just feel there is a lot of wasted space down there, given that our ACM’s (area meetings) are held here (in Tallaght) now rather than down in the Clondalkin area.

“There is not many other meetings that take place down there.

“I feel it could be better used.”

Cllr Carey enquired if any consideration has been given to increasing delivery of services at the civic offices in Clondalkin.

In response, SDCC Director of Corporate Performance and Change Management Lorna Maxwell said that in terms of Clondalkin, the council are looking at taking in expert advice in relation to the development of county hall and Clondalkin offices.

“Partly because of the significant change in the working environment, introduced by hybrid (working) but also the need to modernise a growing workforce needs accommodation too.

We need to look at all aspects there and are looking at the full facilities available to us within Clondalkin, as part of that work as well, and that is underway,” said Ms Maxwell.

SDCC chief executive Colm Ward reiterated the need to “repurpose” the organisation’s workspaces “to be fit for a growing workforce and Clondalkin will come into that.”