Posts Tagged ‘ Lorcan Allen ’

Fianna Fail’s Shame

It is very hard to sit and watch one person being publicly vilified by a group of people hell bent on reducing him to nothing. When a group of people gang up on one person, you immediately feel sympathy for that person and you want to jump in and save them.

However in the case of Colin Webb versus the Fianna Fáil bullies at the Gorey Town Council AGM, I was an impartial witness and could do nothing but sit back, jaw open, and watch the ferocity with which three Fianna Fáil councillors attacked the out-going Cathaoirleach.

This week, the Echo received a letter from a former Town Clerk, Tom O’Connor of 33 years standing and a strong affiliation with Fianna Fáil. He expressed his shame at the way Cllrs. Lorcan Allen, Malcolm Byrne and Jimmy Fleming vented their “rancour and personal vitriol.”

Mr. O’Connor’s father was a founding member of Fianna Fáil back in 1926 and he has a “long and proud association with Fianna Fáil.”

While the expression of the three councillors anger on the night didn’t come as a complete shock to the press bench, the forceful way it was delivered one after another took everyone by surprise.

Prior to Cllr. Allen opening his mouth, it had been all sweetness and light in the council chamber with Fine Gael members expounding their love for their out-going leader and expressing their belief that he had done a good job in the previous 12months in charge.

So it was a complete reversal of emotions when Cllr. Allen opened by calling Cllr. Webb the worst chairman in 50 years and it was as if a black cloud descended over the council chamber.

For the next 15 to 20 minutes Cllr. Webb sat isolated at the top table for the final time as Cllr. Allen followed by Cllrs. Byrne and Fleming told him exactly what they thought of him. It was tough to watch as Cllr. Webb looked out the window while all his failings – at least those in the eyes of Fianna Fáil – where listed out to all those present.

The only member of the Fianna Fáil party who failed to speak was Cllr. Matt Travers – but as he said afterwards this was not because he liked the way Cllr. Webb ran the council.

Looking back on it now, and following the letter from Mr. O’Connor, it seems a little unreal that such an event took place. The question that now arises is was the behaviour of the FF councillors merited or was it completely over-the-top?

There is no question that Cllr. Webb’s time in the top seat of Gorey Town Council was fractious. There was constant barracking and in-fighting between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil over numerous matters – coming to a head with the complete lack of representation for FF on the three subcommittees established.

Why that happened is another matter, but it led to council meetings descending into petty arguments – usually between Cllr. Webb and Cllr. Allen – and very little real work getting done.

On the other hand there is no doubt that Cllr. Webb worked extremely hard during his 12months in charge of the council. He was a member of all four subcommittees of the council as well as sitting on the District committee.

The work carried out by the council over the past 12months has been obvious but unfortunately what most people will remember about the term of Cllr. Webb will be his final ignominious night in the Chair.

The way Fianna Fáil went about systematically destroying his 12months work as Chairman of the Council was uncalled for. They obviously had serious issues relating to his Chairing meetings but the attack became personal and a line was crossed.

With the new chairman now in place and his hopes of unity and inclusiveness, let’s hope the petty fights and personal recriminations are at an end and the councillors can work for the people of Gorey, who – should they forget – put them there in the first place.

2010
07/21
CATEGORY
The Gorey Details
Wexford
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King Colin and his merry men

Inda Kenny could learn a thing or two about harmonious relationships at party political level from the Fine Gael representatives in Gorey.

While Inda is currently flapping around the Dáil bating off attacks on his leadership from left, right and centre; down here in little ole Gorey party relations couldn’t be cosier.

At last week’s Gorey Town Council meeting, of the nine councillors elected a year ago, almost to the day, five showed up for Cathaoirleach Colin Webb’s final meeting as he top man of the council.

Along with Labour’s Robbie Ireton, there was a full complement of Fine Gael councillors all showing up to fawn and praise at the feet of their King.

None of the four elected Fianna Fáil councillors (Lorcan Allen, Jimmy Fleming, Malcolm Byrne and Matt Travers) appeared for the meeting. All had varying reasons for not being present from being abroad to having work commitments.

For 12 months the council has struggled under the yoke of oppressive and bitter infighting which limited the functions of the council to see who could make better insults.

So it was something completely different in store for those of us who were present in the Council Chamber last Tuesday evening. With the sun shining outside and no opposition in sight we hoped that matters would be wound up in a more cordial and timely manner. We were wrong.

For what followed was in some ways more difficult to stomach than the bickering and infighting of the past ten meetings. With no opposition to staunch the sickening outpouring of love and unbridled adoration between the Fine Gaelers, the rest of us present were washed away with a wave of Blueshirt conceit.

Colin Webb, Michael D’Arcy Snr., Angie Dooley and Darren Keegan seized their chance to tell each other how brilliant they all thought they were. King Webb conducted the eulogising – praising each of his party colleagues in turn as they weakly batted off the tributes being thrown at them.

Cllr. D’Arcy’s Enterprise subcommittee was praised for coming up with ideas to reinvigorate business in the time – despite the idea being pooh-poohed by the Chamber of Commerce.

Cllr. Keegan was praised for his chairmanship of the Environment subcommittee and returning the purple and gold colours to prominence throughout the town.

Cllr. Dooley’s work as chairperson of the Education subcommittee was not to go without praise on the night of Big Love in Gorey and she received congratulations for her work with the local schools and raising the awareness of drugs.

Indeed it seemed as if the entire council chamber could have been on some illegal substances such was the felling of peace and love in the room.

Even the presence of a rogue Labour councillor at this Fine Gael love-in was not going to dampen the mood. Cllr. Ireton did challenge King Webb’s assertion that the new metal Hedgehog was fantastic, calling it instead a rust bucket but this was to be the end to Cllr. Ireton’s attempts to bring a downer on proceedings.

Whether it was his true admiration for the work of the Fine Gael party while in charge of the council for the past 12 months or the fact that he will be crowned the new King of Gorey next week, we will never know.

So as Inda struggles to keep the hounds from the door on Kildare Street, he can at least take some comfort that the Fine Gael councillors from Gorey are getting on famously.

Whether the next 12 months brings a similar trend of pitched battles between the two sides of the house or a yearlong love-in, one thing is for sure; Inda could learn a thing or two about party harmony from King Webb and his loyal band of merry men (and women).

2010
06/15
CATEGORY
The Gorey Details
Wexford
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Public mislead on Methadone Clinic

The furore surrounding the possible locating of a methadone clinic in a HSE centre at the new Civic Centre has caused outrage but is this due to scaremongering or a genuine belief that Gorey will be overrun with heroin addicts.

The facts are that the HSE is planning is set up a methadone prescription service at the Mental Health Day Hospital which will begin operating soon in the Civic Centre. It will operate for a total of three hours per week. No methadone will be dispensed at the site.

The Clinic will be used by people attempting to rid themselves of heroin addiction in the north of the county. No one from any other county will be accommodated in the Clinic.

Currently those people in Gorey who want to get off heroin have to travel to Waterford or Dublin to attend a GP who can prescribe methadone. GPs need to be specially trained to dispense methadone and none of the GPs in Gorey are so trained.

However once the prescription has been received the users they travel back to Gorey where a number of pharmacies currently dispense methadone – and have done so for many years.

At the moment a number of GPs in Co. Wexford have received – from the HSE – training in relation to dispensing methadone which will eventually eliminate the need for methadone users to travel to Waterford or Dublin.

So there it is. Methadone users have been in Gorey for many, many years and have received the drug from pharmacies in the area for many, many years. They have been among us for a long time yet now that a specialised centre is being talked about, a sense of fear has been instilled among the public who are looking to oppose the measure being brought to their town.

The problem surrounding the establishment of the Clinic, which will offer users a full aftercare service, is that the HSE need to apply to Wexford County Council for a change of use to the existing premises.

This will allow those opposed to the Clinic to lodge complaints and delay the Clinic interminably. While the Wexford County Council planners may give the go ahead for the clinic a large number of prominent public representatives have said they would appeal the decision to An Bord Pleanála.

A series of public meetings have been held in the town to ‘inform’ people about the situation, though a lot of what has been said has been scaremongering. Initially the people were told the clinic would be a dispensing clinic with users from all over the South East descending on Gorey just to get their fix – even though pharmacies in the town have been and continue to dispense the drug on a daily basis.

There will be no easy solution to this problem and it is set to run and run.

2010
05/18
CATEGORY
The Gorey Details
Wexford
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Welcome to the Muppet Show

The monthly Gorey Town Council meetings should be required viewing by all resident of the town. It is the best and cheapest entertainment in town.

With a cast of characters unrivalled on any stage in Ireland, John B. Keane would kill for a setting and storyline like this. For two hours on the second Tuesday of every month the councillors arrange themselves around the table in the Market House and let fly – well most of them do anyway.

For every brash loudmouth you need a meek mouse, unwilling to have their say and willing to just be a passenger on this ludicrous bandwagon.

For months not the simmering tension between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil has been boiling over with Chairman Colin Webb and Lorcan Allen doing a good impression of Stadler and Waldorf – the two cranky old men form the Muppet Show who complain about everything.

This week however we added a couple of more characters to the show with Cllrs Robbie Ireton and Jimmy Fleming displaying their obvious contempt for each other.

Sitting cheek-by-jowl at the far end of the council table the tension between the two grew as the meeting progressed and by the end of the night both were letting fly at each other with not-so-witty insults along the lines of “You’re a liar”, “No, you’re a liar”, “No YOU’RE a liar” etc…

So while Webb and Allen and Fleming and Ireton played out their own private battles the rest of the cast were content to sit back and listen, adding their own little comments from time to time.

That was until Cllr. Matt Travers had had enough. Towards the end of the meeting, he stood up, put on his jacket and made for the door. As he held the door knob, he turned to address the meeting.

“I made three or four attempts to speak and you did not let me in,” and with that he exited stage left.

Rather than consider what had been going on at the meeting and if they had excluded Cllr. Travers from having his say and representing his people, the councillors returned to form and used it as a stick to beat each other with.

The Fianna Fáil characters said Fine Gael were not letting them have a say and excluding one of the longest serving members of the council. Fine Gael said it was typical of Fianna Fáil to quit when the going gets tough.

For all the bluster and hot air expended at the meeting, it was hard to see what was actually achieved. The methadone clinic was discussed without any new information; the state of the roads was discussed without any new information coming to light; half an hour was taken up on a discussion of the link road in Gorey before a report on the matter which never materialized; the stand orders were changed – though they’ll have to be rewritten and re-presented to the council in April; the possibility of the AMAI conference coming to Gorey was discussed and a sub-committee was sort-of formed – not exactly what you would call a productive meeting.

Some lyrics from the Muppet Show Theme tune seem appropriate and maybe the council might play this song before every meeting rather than saying the prayer: “Why do we always come here / I guess we’ll never know / It’s like a kind of torture /

To have to watch the show”

2010
04/18
CATEGORY
The Gorey Details
Wexford
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Council descends into farce

Last week’s meeting of Gorey Town Council descended in a farce as two opposing councillors began taking personal swipes at each other.

Chairman of the town council, Cllr. Colin Webb and long-serving Cllr. Lorcan Allen constantly sniped at and interrupted each other during the two-hour long meeting. Meetings since the new council was established after the June 2009 elections have seen constant tension between the Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil sides of the chamber, with the mayor being the centre of the tension.

Last week Cllr. Allen was shushed by Cllr. Webb with the former interrupting the chair on several occasions.

When contacted about the matter this week, Cllr. Webb said he believed the infighting was not affecting how the council operated: “I think it is having absolutely no effect on the running of the town council.”

When asked about suggestions made by Fianna Fáil at the meeting that he was not running the meeting in a proper manner, Cllr. Webb said: “I think there should be a casual approach, which Fianna Fáil avail of when it suits them.”

Cllr. Lorcan Allen

Cllr. Lorcan Allen said the problem stems from the rules not being implemented properly: “The standing orders are not being implemented properly and this kind of situation has never happened before.”

While Cllr. Allen believes the situation will be resolved after Town Clerk, Ger Mackey finishes reviewing the standing orders, Cllr. Webb believes the current impasse is likely to continue for the next five years.

“Fianna Fáil has brought nothing constructive to any meeting and they have a lack of interest in the role of the town council. This problem will continue indefinitely for the full term of this council.”

At the meeting last Tuesday night, Cllr. Allen pointed out that Cllr. Webb spoke first on the issue of public lighting in Gorey whereas it should have been opened to the councillors first before the Mayor summed things up. “It is totally out of order to chair a meeting like this and you need to learn how to do it properly.”

A long running point on contention in the meetings since June is the Chairman’s Report which Cllr. Webb introduced. The report outlines the chairman’s duties since the last meeting.

The Fianna Fáil members of the council have been taking the item less than seriously and have called on Cllr. Webb to circulate the report in writing to the councillors so they can look at it prior to the meeting.

2010
02/16
CATEGORY
News
Wexford
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