Ah ah ah….ah come on now!
“Ah Ah Ah….”
“Don’t ‘Ah Ah Ah’ me”
“Don’t you interrupt me”
“You have no idea how to run a meeting”
This erudite discourse is only a sample of what was discussed at the February edition of the Gorey Town Council meeting, which descended into a schoolyard spat between two councillors who should have known better.
Mayor Colin Webb and Lorcan Allen spent a couple of hours bickering and sniping at each other in the council chamber to the obvious frustration of the council officials.
Although their fellow members seemed happy to sit back and throw in the odd jibe or ‘hilarious’ comment about George Lee or Charlie Haughey – depending on which side of the political divide they rested their well-fed behinds.
The constant bickering has been a staple of the meetings since last June’s local elections when Fine Gael took control of the council for the first time in eons and Fianna Fáil were regulated to the wastelands of Opposition – a burden they don’t seem to be handling with any kind of grace.
Neither though can it be said are Fine Gael wearing their new position of prominence with any dignity. Mayor Webb has lowered himself on several occasions to the same personal gutter-sniping as the opposition, which demeans the council as well as the councillors.
In June the people of Gorey elected nine councillors as their representatives in local government. While it is obvious that town councillors have about as much power as the Greens have in the Dáil, they should still uphold the values of public office even if it is only for the sake of propriety.
The council officials at the meeting (Ger Mackey – town clerk; Niall McGuigan – director of services; Neville Shaw – engineer and Barry Hammel – Roads) looked decidedly peeved at the actions of the ‘people’s representatives’. They had better things to be doing on a cold Tuesday evening than listening to the jeering, mocking tones of the councillors. Indeed, I had better things to be doing.
The attacks became personal and it seemed at one stage that things were going to get out of hand. Despite the belief of the Mayor that the spat didn’t delay or slow done the work of the council, this is clearly not the case.
The four Fianna Fáil members of the council (Cllrs. Allen, Travers, Fleming and Byrne) seem to be opting out of council business due to a preserved slight by Fine Gael over the appointment of a committee – and this cannot be good for Gorey.
I am sure the people of Gorey didn’t vote for any councillor into office, so that he or she could involve themselves in petty in-fighting and rabble-rousing.
At the meeting this month, nothing concrete was achieved. The council went around the Methadone Clinic merry-go-round once again; they slapped themselves on the back for carrying out a public light survey and they argued and they argued and they argued.
The Local Government Act was threatened and the values of the Labour party were questioned. The meeting descended into farce yet no one seemed to care too much.
“Ah yeah sure it’s politics, it’s not personal.”
I am not naïve enough to believe that town council meetings should mirror the oratorical debates carried out by Socrates, Plato and Aristotle in Ancient Greece, but surely a modicum of decency and decorum could come into play.
I think it is time for a re-think of the way local authorities are run. Getting rid of councillors would certainly free-up council officials’ time and budgets to actually get some real work done – as opposed to babysitting the council babies.
Yellowbelly Blog 
No trackbacks yet.