Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Garvey states that IPB Insurance covers RSS and Tús. There are different names of groups in different counties. Deputy Ó Cuív referred to Údarás, for example. Why are those groups stating that they want an indemnity from the Tidy Towns associations and an indemnity from county councils? What change has led to them seeking such indemnity this year? Is it not that they do the work that is required under their current insurance cover and in compliance with the health and safety regulations? Why are they indicating that supervisors who have completed the three-day course necessary to allow them to erect signage and lighting will now be required to oversee the various works that are done? Let us remember that this all relates to cutting grass. I worked in the construction sector so I understand that a method statement must be compiled and that proper procedures to build walls, erect traffic lights, erect barriers and all of that must be followed. I am talking about a lawn along a kerb located within the 50 km/h zone of a town or village. Before a voluntary person or a Tús person can use a lawnmower at the location, someone must now travel 600 m out along the road and erect signs. Why is the body that IPB insures seeking this new thing? In fairness, there could be 50 towns in County Galway or 20 towns in County Roscommon, Mayo, Clare or wherever but there will not be a supervisor to drive around with a pick-up truck to erect and dismantle signs. In addition, the councils - which are insured - want the Tidy Towns committees to do everything in compliance with health and safety regulations. This means that even if a Tidy Towns committee does not have a Tús or RSS worker and is doing everything voluntarily, it must get its own van – if a committee had a supervisor, at least it might get a few quid for the van – buy its own signs and have somebody do a three-day or one-day course in order that the grass at the side of the road that it has been cutting for the past 15 or 20 years without a word being said about it might continue to be cut. Why are we being put in this position?

The matter of councils and their insurers indemnifying groups needs to be dealt with quickly. I would not want the working group suggested by the Chairman and Deputy Ó Cuív to just be a talking shop involving the representative bodies of the Tidy Towns committees and local authorities - there will need to be an input from those responsible for roads - insurance bodies and the groups that run the RSS. Heads need to be banged together in order to resolve the problem. Down the years, the difficulties with obtaining insurance have left people afraid of their lives. A volunteer is hardly going to insure his or her car and then sign a form - and send it to the council and the bodies that run the RSS and Tús - stating that he or she is doing the work involved on a voluntary basis and for the betterment of his or her village or town. If people think that individuals are going to keep doing this, they have another thing coming. The councils will be responsible for cutting the grass and doing work like that, but none of it will happen.