Westport and Belmullet councillors clash over call to take meetings out of Belmullet

A CALL for all meetings of the Westport/Belmullet Municipal District to take place in Westport was met with a fierce backlash from the three Belmullet-based councillors.

The monthly meeting of the Westport/Belmullet Municipal District which took place in Belmullet heard claims that holding in Belmullet was no longer sustainable due to the travel involved and that it did not have facilities to hold online meetings.

An arrangement has been in place to alternate the monthly meetings between Westport and Belmullet but the four members of the Westport Electoral Area all agreed that the majority of monthly meetings should now be held in Westport.

This was strongly opposed by the three Belmullet Electoral Area members who were informed that a motion was passed in their absence to hold municipal district meetings in a venue which can cater for online participation. This motion was passed at the special meeting on January 19 to discuss the Westport Local Area Plan which was not attended by the three Belmullet members.

Not Sustainable 

Westport councillor Peter Flynn who made the proposal at the special meeting raised it at Monday's monthly meeting in Belmullet and said the motion should be adhered to.

“I have no problem coming to Belmullet every now and again but if you look around the room at least 80 percent are after travelling over an hour to get here. In terms of sustainability alone it is crazy that we are having this many meetings in Belmullet itself.

“We need a venue where we are supposed to have online facilities available to us. If the offices in Westport did not have facilities then the Leeson [Enterprise] Centre [in Westport] does and we have the option of using Castlebar MD office or the Áras [council chamber in Castlebar]. We agreed to the motion which was passed unanimously and we need to adhere to it,” he said.

The suggestion lit the fuse among the Belmullet Electoral Area members who said this was another example of taking all services away from rural areas and into urban centres.

“We are talking about sustainability and rural Ireland but this is another one to take out of the rural areas and bring into the urban towns,” said Achill-based councillor Paul McNamara.

“Myself and Cllr [Seán] Carey and Cllr [Gerry] Coyle all have to travel an hour every second month when the meeting is in Westport. So if we take the municipal meeting out of our electoral area in Belmullet, it is not a good sign for the people who have elected us and also for rural Ireland itself.

“It is very important that we carry one as we have and we go out into the rural areas where it was proposed to have the municipal district meeting,” he said.

The Westport/Belmullet Municipal District comprises the four councillors from the Westport Electoral Area and three from the Belmullet Electoral Area.

Cllr McNamara was supported by Erris-based councillor Gerry Coyle who said he was shocked by the suggestion to move meetings from Westport and he will not be agreeing to it.

“We went to Carrowtighe [for a monthly meeting] and they were delighted to see us there and that the council were shown that there are people living there. I will not be agreeing to go to Castlebar or Westport for every meeting just because facilities are in that area. There should be meetings all over the area not just Westport,” he said.

Time Change

There was further acrimony between the two electoral areas when a proposal by Cllr Brendan Mulroy to change the time of monthly meetings from 2pm to 10am was strongly opposed by the three Belmullet members.

Cllr Mulroy said that the time change was to allow councillors to canvass ahead of the local elections in June and was supported by all the Westport members.

In opposing the proposal, the three Belmullet members said that they had all agreed a time for the monthly meetings at the start of the council term and they cannot change the standing orders with just four meetings left.

“The meetings have been working perfectly for the last ten years since I was elected and why change now is beyond me,” said Cllr McNamara.

Cllr Mulroy accused the Belmullet councillors of opposing the time change just to be argumentative.

Cathaoirleach of the Municipal District, Cllr Seán Carey who is based in Belmullet, came under pressure to take a vote on the time change but resisted saying that they had no prior knowledge of the proposal and needed time to think about it.

Cllr Mulroy accused his Fianna Fáil party colleague of refusing to take a vote but Cllr Carey did not accept this was the case.

The division between the two electoral areas led to a plea from Padraig Walsh, the manager of the municipal district, to consider a compromise as it was 'regrettable' that things were becoming divisive.

“It is regrettable that it is going to be divisive and I would fear for this body doing its work efficiently because this will be divisive.

“If there is a proposal to go to morning meetings full time you do need to amend standing orders as well. I would appeal to the members to find a middle ground to suit everyone and not to be divisive because it will not help the efficient working of the municipal district,” he said.

Cllr Flynn said that standing orders state that meetings of the municipal district should take place in the Civic Offices in Westport and having meetings in Belmullet every second month was in breach of them.

As a compromise, Mr Walsh suggested that the next monthly meeting take place at 10am and the matter can be revisited.

It was agreed to have the next meeting at 10am but Cllr Mulroy said he wanted the proposal to change the remaining meetings to 10am to be placed on the agenda.

The discussion on the venue of the meeting and the change of time lasted for close to an hour which prompted Cllr Coyle to comment that it was fortunate it was not online for people to see.