Mystery about cancellation of public meeting in Saggart on burglary issues

A COUNCILLOR has been unable to receive confirmation on who cancelled her public meeting at a community centre last November.

Cllr Linda de Courcy (Ind Ire) booked and paid for a room at Saggart Schoolhouse community centre to discuss an increase of burglaries and anti-social issues in the area.

However, less than 24 hours ahead of the meeting, de Courcy received notification that the booking was cancelled by the board, who decided not to hold “any public meetings in the short term.”

The meeting was scheduled to take place a few weeks before the general election.

Cllr de Courcy met with a senior official in SDCC and has asked for the minutes of the meeting that led to the cancellation but has not been given a response.

SDCC invested €3.5m to transform the former old St Mary’s National School in Saggart into a multi-purpose community centre, which opened last year.

“There is no logic to it. When they cancelled they said it was a political meeting.

‘I spoke to them, confirmed, booked and paid for the meeting.

‘They didn’t contact me beforehand and ask about it, they didn’t do their due diligence.

‘If they didn’t want to hold a political meeting, they could have contacted me directly,” said de Courcy.

The Clondalkin councillor claims she has received abuse on the phone and “nasty messages” online in the aftermath of the cancellation.

“I just want to know who cancelled the meeting. It’s not appropriate that a local elected councillor should have a public meeting cancelled at a publicly funded building.

‘That was one of the things I said to SDCC – if the meeting was about climate or trans issues and it was cancelled, there would have been uproar.”

The Echo contacted SDCC and Saggart Schoolhouse Community Centre for comment but did not receive a reply at the time of going to print.