Dublin City Council chief’s comments ‘a disgrace’, says Green leader

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan has said comments made by Dublin City Council chief executive Owen Keegan were “a disgrace” and showed “contempt for local democracy”.

Mr Ryan was referring to reports that Mr Keegan had dismissed political and public opposition to the proposed Ringsend incinerator.

Mr Ryan said the council chief executive had described opposition to the incinerator as “unhelpful” while insisting a lack of political support for the incinerator should pose no threat to it going ahead.

Mr Ryan said the remarks were an indication that the city needed a directly elected mayor to restore democracy. He called on Mr Keegan to apologise.

“Both Dublin City Council and Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council voted to scrap the planned incinerator, but the county’s chief executives have pushed on with it regardless. There is a lack of transparency and a democratic deficit at local-authority level,” Mr Ryan said.