Cllr. Ted Tynan, “Essential council services must come first”
Workers’ Party Councillor Ted Tynan has said that he could not in conscience support a loan request for €200,000 by Cork City Council to the Cork Film Festival committee at a time when the council’s services remain seriously curtailed due to cutbacks in its own funding.
Cllr. Tynan said he will be voting against the proposed loan at a special meeting of Cork City Council this afternoon.
“While acknowledging the role of Cork Film Festival over many years in promoting the city, in these straitened times priority must be given to ensuring that the essential services that the city is obliged to provide are maintained. We have an extremely serious housing crisis in this city and there have been huge cutbacks in other key services and in the council’s own staffing numbers. For this reason I will be opposing the proposed loan to the Film Festival”, said Cllr. Tynan.
Cllr. Tynan said that the City Council had already given a very substantial financial commitment to the proposed events centre and it continues to support Cork Opera House and other arts, culture and heritage programmes in the city. “The commitment of Cork City Council to the arts in this city is beyond question but I believe that the point has been reached where we must prioritise essential services and our own cultural and educational assets such as our libraries”.