Chambers walks out of meeting

Chambers walks out of meeting


Neill O’Neill

NEWPORT-BASED Mayo county councillor, Frank Chambers, walked out of a meeting of the Westport Electoral Area Committee yesterday (Monday), in protest at the lack of representation at the meeting by officials from Mayo County Council’s Newport office.
When Cathaoirleach of the committee, Cllr Austin Francis O’Malley, called the roadworks update item on the agenda, Cllr Chambers said: “I’m leaving this meeting in protest at the fact that Padraig Philbin [a Mayo County Council engineer based in Newport] is not here and the Newport office is not represented.” Cllr Chambers then put on his jacket and left the building.
Director of Services in the Westport Electoral Area, Mr Peter Hynes, then informed the meeting that there has not been a Newport Engineering Area for over seven years and that Senior Engineer Kieran Lynn is on top of the situation in Newport.
Cllr John O’Malley said he does a lot of work through the Newport office and gets all the help he needs there. He added that he has never had a problem with the Newport office and was not criticising them.