Search Results for 'Frank Durcan'

The chairperson of the Castlebar Municipal District, Cllr Al McDonnell, said that the people wanted the position to have a chain or a symbol of office. He told the July meeting of the municipal district he had been invited to a number of events and the organisers of those events had told him not to attend if he did not have chain or a symbol to show his status.

The improvement works carried out by Mayo County Council as part of the Greenway project on the Newport Road out of the town have caused major headaches for residents on the right hand side of the road out of the town, according to Independent councillor Michael Kilcoyne.

The members of the Castlebar Municipal District welcomed the news that an Bord Pleanála had given the green light to the new N5 Westport to Turlough project that will see 23.7km of roadway constructed from Westport to Turlough, which will include an eastern bypass of Castlebar. However there were concerns expressed by some councillors that it could have a detrimental effect on businesses in Castlebar.

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.

Where did it all go wrong is what the Fine Gael party faithful will be trying to figure out over the next few weeks as they saw their seats in the county town drop from four to two over the weekend. One man who won’t be asking that question is Independent Cllr Michael Kilcoyne who topped the poll with an amazing 2,921 votes, a massive 1,210 first preference votes over the quota of 1,711. From not long after the boxes were opened and spilled across the counting tables in the Royal Theatre in Castlebar early on Saturday morning, there was never any doubt that Kilcoyne was going to top the poll, it was only a matter of by how much. When he was elected on the first count, he was the first councillor in Ireland elected in this year’s local elections, but he had to wait until the early hours of Tuesday morning for the official declaration of election after the recount of the Castlebar papers had been concluded. More on that below.

A number of the Independent candidates running in the upcoming Local Elections believe voters are disillusioned with what the traditional parties are offering and a swing towards the non-party aligned is on the cards.

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

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.

At Monday’s annual budget meeting of Mayo County Council, county manager, Peter Hynes responded to an allegation from Independent councillor Frank Durcan in relation to a potential irregularity in payments on contract awarded by Mayo County Council. Speaking at the end of the meeting, Mr Hynes told the meeting that, following an internal check a number of years ago a possible contract payment irregularity was uncovered and reported to the councils auditors and to Gardai immediately. He went on to say that “There were comments made to a specific incident and I’m not referring to that specific incident, and I’m specifically not identifying that incident.”

“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.”