*Photograph: John Mangan
A FORMAL COMPLAINT has been issued to the Minister for Local Government by a Shannon councillor who claims that the Corporate Policy Group (CPG) of Clare County Council have made attempts to “muzzle democrats”.
Efforts by Cllr Gerry Flynn (IND), Cllr Donna McGettigan (SF), Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) and Cllr Tom O’Callaghan (FF) to bring a motion before a meeting of Clare County Council on the Francis St cottages was rejected by the CPG.
Members of the CPG include the Cathaoirleach of Clare County Council, Cllr Tony O’Brien (FF), Cllr Pat McMahon (FF), Cllr Pat Hayes (FF), Cllr John Crowe (FG), Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy (FF), Cllr Shane Talty (FF) and Cllr G Flynn. Cllr Crowe was absent from the meeting whereby the Fianna Fáil dominated CPG voted 5-1 not to allow the motion be heard before a full sitting of the Council, Cllr Flynn being the only elected representative to vote for it to be passed through.
In their proposal which failed to get past the boardroom, the quartet called on the Council Chief Executive, Pat Dowling to retain the Francis Street site in the local authority’s ownership “for the development of much needed accommodation in our county at a time of a serious housing crisis and to immediately put in place plans to renovate the existing vacant homes that are located on part of the property and design a further development of new homes on the remaining part of the site for many people who have a desire to live near all the necessary services within walking distance”.
They believed that the site “is primed for housing and offers the Council the opportunity to prioritise the need for homes and this has to be the focus at this time. Government Policy supports the renovation of vacant property and the delivery of housing development in areas that have all the necessary services on the doorstep”.
Last week, Director of Services at the Ennis Municipal District, Carmel Kirby confirmed that plans to demolish the Francis Street cottages as part of the Ennis 2040 strategy were paused. In October, the acquired the block of cottages on Francis Street. As part of the Ennis 2040 Strategy, it was proposed to demolish six houses on Francis Street to facilitate the construction of a temporary car park at a cost of €1.1m. The plans to knock the properties drew ire from the public and led to a protest attended by over 100 people in the past month taking place.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Cllr Flynn confirmed he had lodged an official complaint with the Minister for Local Government, Housing and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien (FF). “I have an official complaint gone to the Minister for Housing, I do believe the Corporate Policy Group in Clare County Council are operating outside their remit, they have no job in censoring motions from elected members, the standing orders which I chair deal with the running of Council meetings, it is not for a Corporate Policy Group which is a mini-Cabinet of selected members in the boardroom to decide we won’t like the look of that motion and we don’t it to go out on the public airwaves, the fourth estate have a job to bring the message to the people, I have a job as a public representative to my brief, my brief is a mandate to the public and the public came first”.
Shannon based Flynn said that the May meeting indicated there is a strong demand for housing to be debated within the Chamber. “I’ve never heard as much debates about housing, they stopped our motion which was a legitimate motion to try address the deficit of housing in Clare, we are in the middle of a housing crisis, the proposal we put forward had cross-party support and it was to do with the Francis Street site, we wanted to put in a development there that would be appropriate to the people that want it, people with disabilities, older people and people who want step down housing”.
He added, “It was good today in a way that there was a considerable amount of motions which offered an opportunity to people who were denied having a motion on the agenda, I had no motion on the agenda and I like to have a motion on the agenda, you cannot do that, you cannot muzzle democrats. I think it was a wrong act by the Cathaoirleach, he was supported ably by his Fianna Fáil members”.
Cllr O’Brien refuted the stance that it was Fianna Fáil members who blocked the motion, this despite the fact that all five individuals that stopped it from going before the Council meeting being members of the party. “One of the co signatories to the motion was Cllr Tom O’Callaghan, a fine and respected member of this Council and of Fianna Fáil, to think we would be ganging up on one of our own (is wrong). You try find a consensus, there was six elected members at the meeting, the majority were Fianna Fáil, five of the six members were against it, they discussed it and it wasn’t in anyway personal. Two motions were rejected, a second motion was rejected which was also signed by a number of the Ennis councillors”.
He added, “I think this is an over-reaction by a number of councillors who I would say are hyper-sensitive to democratic decisions. Let me assure the people of Ennis and Clare that there is no threat to democracy”.
O’Brien whose term as Mayor concludes next month explained, “There’s criteria for motions to make the agenda for Clare County Council and one of the motions is that they are of countywide relevance, the motion was very specific to a specific site and a specific area, the CPG felt and I was part of it, we felt the motion wasn’t in order for the full Council meeting, on that basis the majority of the members of the CPG felt it wasn’t relevant. It wasn’t just Gerry Flynn, there was four signatories, Donna McGettigan, Tom O’Callaghan and Johnny Flynn, this wasn’t against Gerry Flynn or Sinn Féin, it was a motion which was taken at its face value and not deemed relevant to the agenda”.
That housing and roads are seen as two primary functions of the local authority was acknowledged by Cllr O’Brien but he felt the Francis St cottages did not warrant debate at the May meeting. “The Director of Service in charge of the Ennis MD was very clear that they are in the process of drawing up new plans which will include I believe multiples of housing units for the Francis St site, the very least that people who are charged with the responsibility, the Ennis MD executive and councillors should be afforded the opportunity to see that through”.
During the May meeting, Cllr Flynn remarked that the county’s first citizen had censored him, the Killaloe representative rejected these remarks. “I can assure all elected members that they are afforded equal opportunity to speak, equal access to myself or any forum they want, I will defend their right to be informed and to have all knowledge and information on any decisions in good faith, that is right across the board, it is non-political or confined to any two or three councillors but all of my 27 colleagues, I disregard and take it as an awful and inappropriate comment for a councillor to make, particularly one who should know better”.
