Search Results for 'Al McDonnell'

There can be few jobs more unpalatable right now than being a Fianna Fáil election candidate - or even a Fianna Fáil canvasser - in the run up to June 5. The party is facing a drubbing at the polls. And whatever doorstep hostility has been there over the past two weeks, it will be nothing as compared to the anger when next month's pay cheque leaves Sean Citizen with a huge hole in what is available to him to pay his bills.

There are many rumblings in the aftermath of the Local Elections as to the internal health of Fine Gael in east and north Mayo and recent mayoral and cathaoirleach elections are adding to the ether.

Before Cllr Joe Mellett had even handed over the Cathaoirleach’s chain to incoming Cathaoirleach for the next 12 months, Cllr John Cribben, independent Castlebar based Cllr Frank Durcan fired his first warning shot across the bows of the new council. Cllr Durcan told the meeting, “In the interests of transparency and accountability, I would call that the salaries of the Cathaoirleach, the leas Cathaoirleach and all the committee chairpersons be given to the general public”. Cllr Durcan’s call was seconded by fellow independent Cllr Gerry Ginty from Ballina.

The Mayo County Council will speak to the members of the Clarke family about the appointment of members to the steering committee for the library after the council failed to appoint a member to the committee at its monthly meeting this week.

County manager Des Mahon this week urged the elected members of the Mayo County Council to sell the positives of the county rather than the negatives. Mr Mahon was speaking to the members on foot of a motion by Fine Gael’s Michelle Mulherin where she called for the major industries in Mayo to be afforded the opportunity to outline the problems that are affecting their growth due to inadequate infrastructure in Mayo.

From the initial planning stages it has been a long struggle for the Mayo County Development Plan 2008 to 2014 to come to fruition to the satisfaction of the elected members and the Department of Environment and Local Government under the direction of Minister John Gormley. But last Monday the new development plan, which has taken up many hours of planning, discussion, meetings and angry exchanges across the country, finally came to a conclusion when the elected members voted in favour of a new ministerial directive issued by Minister for the Environment John Gormley on September 16 2009, overturning his previous directive of July 11 2008.

Mayo County Council will be searching for a new county manger following the announcement this week that Des Mahon will retire after almost 20 years in the role. The Roscommon native, who lives in Westport, has held the position of county manager since 1990 and seen numerous changes in his time in charge of the local authority.

In a discussion surrounding Mayo County Council’s corporate plan, which spans a five year period from 2010 to 2014, Fine Gael councillor Peter Flynn suggested that the council should increase its range of services, due to the scaling back of other government agencies, with Mayo County Council taking on these additional services so everything is dealt with “under one umbrella”.

The elected members of Mayo County Council paid glowing tributes to departing county manager Des Mahon at his final meeting before he retired from his position. The Roscommon native who has held the position since July 1990 was given a standing ovation by those in the chamber when he spoke at the end of the meeting last Monday.

Members of Mayo County Councils Joint Policing Committee this week proposed to contact the Minister of Justice to condemn the “revolving door system of prisons” as prison sentences are not a “deterrent” and gardaí are frustrated that “criminals can act without impunity”.