There was upset at last night's Waterford Community Safety Partnership (CSP) meeting over the way members found out about the appointment of a new Co-ordinator.
Eddie Mulligan resigned his position as a Fianna Fáil councillor last month in order to take up the role.
However, the majority of the group - including Chairperson, former secretary general at the Department of Justice, Seán Aylward - only found out via social media.
The CSP sees senior members of An Garda Síochána, local authorities and the HSE meet with elected councillors and members of the public.
The public grouping within the CSP is picked from the Public Participation Network (PPN), which is made up of voluntary and community representatives who are not elected councillors.
Speaking at the meeting, Breda Halligan of Waterford PPN said it should never have happened that way.
"It was quite disappointing from the PPN point of view to learn it from social media. I would also say - and it was something that I was going to bring up later - but I would also say, we have a Vice Chair of this process. The Vice Chair wasn't informed, wasn't told and knew nothing about this."
Explanation
Eddie Mulligan, who resigned his role as a serving Fianna Fail Councillor to take up the new position, apologised and said his family didn't even know before it was announced.
"In my own situation, I had discussed with my family that I had considered taking the position. I was en-route to meet my wife and daughter to tell them that I had actually accepted the position when it actually hit social media from another source. The same source that released it on social media was actually ringing my wife to ask if I was with her. He wanted to interview me at the time. From my point of view, my wife and daughter only knew that I was considering it."
'Unnecessary to announce'
Director of Services with Waterford Council, Ivan Grimes, responded to Ms. Halligan's discontent - saying it wasn't necessary to publicly announce Mr. Mulligan's new role.
"With the possible exception of the appointment of the Chief Executive, Waterford Council doesn't comment on nor announce the employment of any individuals. So, I don't want people to think that we were necessarily not telling anybody. It's just generally not common practice except with the unique exception of when the Chief Executive is appointed to a role."
Mr. Grimes expressed his adamance that an open recruitment process took place with an external interview board establishing a panel of candidates.
He outlined that Eddie Mulligan was the "next qualified" person when the role of coordinator became available. This came as a result of the previous co-ordinator being promoted.
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