Cllr Blackie Gavin causes major shock by shunning Fianna Fáil group on Mayo County Council

LONG-serving Fianna Fáíl county councillor Blackie Gavin has caused a major shock after joining a multi-party technical group on Mayo County Council.

Cllr Gavin refused to vote for the partnership between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, which was formalised today with the election of John O’Hara (Fine Gael) as Cathaoirleach of the local authority and Fianna Fáil’s Brendan Mulroy as Leas-Cathaoirleach. 

The Castlebar-based councillor will be part of a ten-member technical group consisting of himself, Independents Cllr Harry Barrett, Cllr Richard Finn, Cllr Michael Kilcoyne, Cllr Mark Duffy, Cllr Patsy O’Brien, Cllr Joe Faughnan, Cllr John O’Malley, Sinn Féin’s Gerry Murray, and Independent Ireland’s Chris Maxwell. 

When asked about his decision afterwards, Cllr Gavin said he could not support Fianna Fáil entering coalition with Fine Gael because the party had ‘failed to deliver’ for his area during their time in government. 

He also said being part of a group would allow him to take up positions on one of the numerous committees which county councillors were elected at today’s Annual General Meeting of Mayo County Council. 

First elected in 1994, Cllr Gavin said he would ‘continue to fight tooth and nail’ for the people of Castlebar despite not being a member of the Fianna Fáil grouping. 

“I wasn’t happy with going in with Fine Gael, from day one. I made it quite clear, as a Fianna councillor, a party, the Fine Gael party who failed to deliver to this town and this county as far as I’m concerned,” said Cllr Gavin. 

“We were promised the extension to the A&E in Mayo General Hospital in 2014. This is 2024, it still hasn’t been delivered, so there’s no way that I could go in with a party that hasn’t delivered to Castlebar or to this county.”

When it was put to him that his party has been in government with Fine Gael since 2020, Cllr Gavin said he was ‘entitled to make my own decision’ on what group he joined on the local authority. 

“There’s some of our own members within the Fianna Fáil party that weren’t happy going in with the Fine Gael group but they decided at the end of the day to go in with Fine Gael, I decided not to.”

He added: “I don’t regret that, I still have a voice, an independent voice on the council and I’m looking forward to getting the capital projects that were promised for Castlebar delivered for the next five years.”

When asked if the party whip would be imposed on him, Cllr Gavin said that it was ‘up to the Fianna Fáil organisation locally here in Castlebar’. 

“I’ve talked to my family, I've talked to a lot of my friends, a lot of people that canvassed with me and they’re very happy with the decision I’ve made. I wasn’t going to be someone that was going to be pushed into a corner for the next five years,” he said. 

 “I will be fighting for the people of the Castlebar Municipal District and the people of this county for the next five years, whether I’m Independent or whether I’m Independent-Fianna Fáil, I will continue lobbying and fighting hard for the services that the people of this county deserve.”

When asked by The Mayo News if he would support the party re-entering coalition with Fine Gael after the next election, Cllr Gavin said it would ‘depend on the result’. 

Echoing comments he made before the election, Cllr Gavin said that voters wanted ‘change’. Just two sitting councillors, Christy Hyland (Independent) and Tom Connolly (Fine Gael) were unseated at the recent local elections, which saw Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael win ten seats each. 

“All we can do is wait and see the outcome of the next election and whether money keeps coming into the town,” Cllr Gavin said, adding that Castlebar was ‘starved’ of funding for capital projects.

“So we’d be hoping that a lot of them projects that were promised that they would be delivered within the next five years, and that’s my job to do for the next five years and I will continue to fight tooth and nail for the people of this area.”