The Chief Executive of Meath County Council is not used to small scale projects – as an engineer, he has worked on the construction of football stadiums, power stations, not to mention airports. However, while Kevin Kehoe has worked on the big-ticket items in the private sector, he has a keen understanding of what makes a local authority tick – its people.
The Laois man, who replaced Fiona Lawless in December after she had taken over from Jackie Maguire following Maguire’s retirement in June 2023, is very conscious of the hugely important role played by the council’s outdoor staff; the day-to-day work which to many may be seen as ordinary or trivial, like filling a pothole or fixing a footpath; cleaning a sign or emptying a bin, cutting grass, repairing and maintaining houses.
“These are all our day-to-day core services, and it is crucial that we continue to maintain them to the excellent standards that we do at present,” he points out. On top of that, he adds, these people are also to the forefront when emergencies happen like the flooding episode in east Meath over the August bank holiday weekend in 2023, or during severe weather events which will happen more and more, to keep the people of Meath safe.
Kehoe describes himself as “personally ambitious and a very positive person”. He has many ambitions for the county and looks forward to the development of the new National Park at Dowth, and the prospect of linking it into local towns and villages through greenways, both for the tourists and the people living there.
He would hope that such interconnection would bring visitors to the Boyne Valley on two to three-day packages, bringing an economic boost that will help create jobs along the greenways in cafes and such outlets. “We must remember that the greenways and cycle lanes are not just for tourists, but for local residents to take advantage of too.”
He wants local towns and villages to be ready to avail of national funding under various schemes, to be “shovel ready” for outdoor infrastructure, towns and villages funds, tackling dereliction, to have a pipeline of projects and to “be ambitious” for what we want.
“Tourism, agri-food, tech, and indigenous industries are hugely important. If I get one sniff of any company wanting to make foreign direct investment in the region, I will work to get them into Meath.”
He says that the most important resource the county has is its people. “We have a very educated workforce, many commuting to Dublin and North Kildare. We have already a lot of data gathered as regards their skillsets and qualifications, and early in the new year we want to establish a robust database. A lot of it is anonymised in census statistics, but we will do our own surveys as well.”
He says the council has the benefit of sites on the business park in Athlumney, and the planned rail line, he adds, will travel both ways. “It won’t just go to Dublin; it will come out too. Suddenly, if it is high speed, you will have over a million people within 35 minutes of the town and county, giving them the opportunity to come and work in Meath.”
