Councillor claims he being ‘muzzled’ by Council

Durcan claims he’s being ‘muzzled’ by County Council


Anton McNulty

AN Independent Castlebar councillor claims he is being ‘muzzled’ by Mayo County Council and as a result, controversial issues relating to the Council, will be brought up in the DΡil.
Cllr Frank Durcan made his comments at yesterday’s (Monday) monthly meeting of Mayo County Council when a notice of motion he was seeking to raise was not placed on the agenda.
The meeting was informed by the County Secretary, John Condon, that part of the notice could have ‘damaged and injured an employee’ of Mayo County Council and was omitted as it could leave the Council open to a litigation if it was read in the chamber.
Cllr Durcan took issue with the omission of the notice of motion saying he was elected with a mandate to fight corruption in the Council but now he was being ‘muzzled’. He alleged that following a Freedom of Information request, the response he got was ‘lies’ and claims a member of the Council had passed on false information to the Freedom of Information officer.
“I might be muzzled in here...but whether I read it out or not, it will be raised in DΡil Éireann,” he said. “Furthermore I’ve been told lies, not by the Freedom of Information Officer, he gave me the information he got from an official from the council. This is a serious matter. That official supplied me with wrong information and should be dismissed immediately.
“We no longer live in a democracy in this council. For democracy to reign there needs to be no lies told to anyone, especially to an elected representative who has a mandate from the people. I am heading to DΡil Éireann to get a member of the DΡil to have the question raised on the floor of DΡil Éireann,” he said.
Cllr Durcan did not raise his notice of motion during the meeting but mentioned that a person had allegedly been given a job with the council without an interview. He said he was disappointed with the Unions representing Council staff that this was allegedly allowed to happen and he would be going to SIPO (Standards in Public Office) with the information he has received.
Mr Condon informed the meeting that the council had no difficulty with two parts of the notice of motion but had concerns about a third part of the motion which he felt would leave the council open to a litigation if it was read in the chamber.
He said he wrote to Cllr Durcan outlining their concerns and asked him to resubmit the notice of motion without the third part but had not done so.