Flynn unimpressed

Flynn unimpressed by Fianna Fáil tactics

WESTPORT
Neill O’Neill

FOLLOWING the election of Cllr Martin Keane as Cathaoirleach at last week’s AGM of Westport Town Council, his first minutes in the chair saw him having to deal with a bout of political jousting, the like of which has not been seen in the chamber for some time.
After wishing Cllr Keane all the best in his new role, Cllr Peter Flynn launched a stinging attack on Fianna Fáil for what he perceived to be their poor conduct and mistreatment of Cllr Myles Staunton in the build-up to the AGM.
Aiming his words at Cllr Margaret Adams, he told her that she had hit an ‘all-time low’ in her pursuit of personal glory and called her party colleagues – Cllr Brendan Mulroy and Cllr Declan Dever – her puppets.
Cllr Flynn was annoyed that the Fianna Fáil councillors did not indicate who they would be voting for as Cathaoirleach at the AGM, as other councillors had, and accused them of stringing along Cllr Staunton and his family – who he said have done so much for Westport over the years. He felt these actions were calculated by Cllr Adams to keep Cllr Staunton – a possible contender for a County Council seat in next year’s local elections – away from the large profile boost he would gain as Cathaoirleach of Westport Town Council. Cllr Adams already holds one of the four County Council seats available in the Westport Electoral area, and will seek to retain her seat in 2009. Cllr Flynn felt that her party colleagues had simply gone along with this plan.
“You are thinking of next year’s County Council elections and want the glory for yourself. In your actions you have deprived this town of having a man as our civic leader that has the potential to go all the way for Westport,” he said.
Cllr Brendan Mulroy interjected that nobody had their hand up his back. He said it was Fine Gael and Cllrs Flynn and Staunton that set the precedent for what happened when they voted Cllr Keane in as Leas-Chathaoirleach in 2005, despite a traditional inter-party agreement which meant the position should have been held by a Fianna Fáil councillor.
He referred specifically to a written agreement the Council had made – which was signed by Cllr Flynn for Fine Gael and Cllr Adams for Fianna Fáil – which set out who would hold the positions of Cathaoirleach and Leas-Chathaoirleach over the life of the Council. These positions were to be rotated between the parties, as had been the status quo with Westport Town Council for decades. However, Fianna Fáil felt that after Fine Gael called for a change and ‘broke the agreement’ in 2005, it was gone forever. “Your party called for a change and we are sticking to that philosophy in supporting Cllr Keane,” Cllr Dever stated. Fianna Fáil councillors then produced media reports from the AGM three years ago, where it was stated by Cllr Staunton that it was ‘time to give something back’ to Cllr Keane for all the hard work he had done in Westport.
Those words were used in the chamber again last week, this time by Fianna Fáil, and against Cllr Staunton. It was also reiterated that it was Cllrs Flynn and Staunton that broke the inter-party deal in 2005, while their colleague, Cllr Tereasa McGuire, had stood by her word and voted for Cllr Dever.
“You ran Cllr Staunton’s family up the garden path and didn’t have the decency to tell them you wouldn’t vote for him,” Cllr Flynn retorted, but, Cllr Mulroy answered this with ‘did you tell us you were breaking the deal last time?’.
Cllr Adams said she led nobody up the garden path and had not pledged her vote to anybody until that evening. She called Cllr Flynn’s outburst ‘childish’, while Cllr Dever added that it was just sour grapes and that he is nobody’s puppet.
“Anyone who knows us will be aware that we have plenty of our own ups and downs on this side of the house [Fianna Fáil],” he said.