Search Results for 'Al McDonnell'

“This is a clash of ideals, people who want to see rural Ireland closed down and those who want to see it prosper,” was how Fianna Fáil councillor Al McDonnell described the challenge to the recently adopted Mayo County Council Development Plan (2014-2020) by the Department of Environment and Local Government. The Development Plan sets out a number of guidelines for planning and development in the county for the next six years, including the contentious issue of rural housing. It is the second time that the Department of Environment and Local Government has challenged the plan adopted by the members of Mayo County Council. In late 2008 a delegation from Mayo County Council travelled to Dublin and met the Oireachtas Committee on Environment when a similar issue arose, they put their case forward and were ultimately successful in getting the development plan they wanted passed. “We were right the last time and they were wrong,” was how Fine Gael councillor Gerry Coyle responded to a letter received by the councillors telling them to change the adopted plan.

Fianna Fáil regained control of the chamber in Mayo County Council today (Friday, June 6) with the election of Ballinrobe based Cllr Damien Ryan to the position of Cathaoirleach of Mayo County Council.

The curtain finally came down on the local and European election count in the Royal Theatre in Castlebar in the early hours of Thursday after a mammoth almost five days of counting of votes, when Marian Harkin held off the challenge of Pat ‘The Cope’ Gallagher to win the last seat in the Midlands North West European constituency.

Nominations for the Local Elections on May 23 closed on Saturday.

A proposal to have all 400kv power lines undergrounded included in the new Mayo County Council development plan fell at a vote (12-10, with nine councillors absent for the vote ) at this week’s special meeting of the council to approve the new county development plan.

There were clear dividing lines drawn in the Mayo County Council on Monday afternoon when a controversial draft policy on ‘Community Benefit Contributions for Certain Major Developments’ was passed, by a vote of 26-6. Excepting Fine Gael where all councillors support the motion, the two other political parties in the council split on the vote, with Sinn Féin’s Rose Conway-Walsh, Fianna Fáil trio of Al McDonnell, Blackie Gavin, and Damien Ryan, and Independent councillors Michael Kilcoyne, Richard Finn, and Michael Holmes all voting for it. Voting against the motion were Fianna Fáil’s Margaret Adams, Jimmy Maloney, and Annie May Reape alongside Sinn Féin’s Gerry Murray and independents Gerry Ginty and Seamus Weir. Cllr Frank Durcan was absent from the meeting. Both Cllr Murray and Cllr Weir led the charge against the proposals at the meeting and both councillors ended up in heated side-debates with other councillors while the topic was being discussed.

“We didn’t feel we were equal partners,” was how one community representative member of the Planning, Economic Development and Emergency Services Strategic Policy Committee of Mayo County Council described her time on the committee over the past number of years.

The late John Carty was remembered by his former colleagues on Mayo County Council this week, who met for the first time since the death of the former TD, senator, and county councillor. As a mark of respect the council adjourned its meeting following the completion of the statutory business.

“Is this a debating society or is it a council meeting?” was the question posed by Fine Gael councillor Peter Flynn on Monday afternoon, after the council had spent almost an hour debating back and forth across the chamber on the issue of the recent jobs news in Castlebar. Flynn, who will not be running in next year’s local elections after he opted to step down after only one term, said: “We’ve been here for an hour and we haven’t made one mention of anything we can effect.”

Castlebar councillor Al McDonnell has criticised the government’s decision to sell two garda stations in Mayo that were recently shut down by Justice Minister Alan Shatter.