Nominations for vacancy sparks trouble in council chambers

Sparks flew at Monday’s Council meeting which saw Dean Donnelly filling the seat Councillor Patrick Holohan won in Tallaght Central in the local elections.

Mr Donnelly received 22 votes in support of Cllr Holohan’s nomination for him to fill the Tallaght Central seat.

Mr Kieran Mahon was unsuccessful in securing the seat after being nominated by his People Before Profit – Solidarity (PBP) colleague Councillor Jess Spear.

However councillors were in disagreement regarding whether Cllr Holohan should be allowed to nominate someone for the Tallaght Central seat.

Some councillors such as Cllr Paul Gogarty (Ind) felt that he should.

Cllr Gogarty asked how many councillors put down who would be co-opted if they were elected to Dáil Éireann. “Very few,” said Cllr Gogarty.

He added that maybe we should have co-optees for Dáil Éireann similar to the situation for European elections.

“The last time I received so many emails from People Before Profit was when one of their members barricaded a girl into my office and they asked me to interfere with a Garda investigation to try and get the charges dropped,” he said.

However Cllr Gogarty did not hold back when referring to members of PBP, including Mr Paul Murphy, TD, regarding this incident.

“I said, ‘look, they’re a bunch of muppets, Paul Murphy is a massive muppet, but I’m not involved’,” he said.

Returning to the issue of filling the Tallaght Central seat Cllr Gogarty continued: “So in this situation, I think again we’re talking about a load of hot air, the reality is Cllr Holohan has a mandate, he’s nominated someone, I’m happy to vote for that individual and represent democracy the way people voted, the way people would vote for a candidate in the general election as well.”

Meanwhile Cllr Kay Keane (PBP) spoke in favour of the nomination of Mr Mahon. She said she understood the feelings of some independent councillors regarding whether who can co-opt or who can nominate.

“And it’s not [setting a precedent]. There’s already legislation there protecting individuals. They have a right to co-opt if you are retiring, if you have to step down, if you die, and there’s none of us dead in here at the minute as far as I’m aware, okay, and I think that’s something that we need to take into account, this does not infringe in any way shape or form on the rights of independents in this chamber,” she said.

However she went on to say that she had “huge concerns” regarding the nomination of Mr Donnelly to fill Cllr Holohan’s seat.

“His nominee is an employee of Cllr Holohan. I have grave concerns of how this could evolve within the chamber, within a working relationship, I’m not saying anything untoward could happen, but I have concerns and I think that’s something that should be raised because as a socialist I know how the employer- employee relationship can work out,” she said.

She added that 44.5 per cent of Cllr Holohan’s surplus went to Mr Mahon which “is a huge percentage of a surplus, so you don’t get that by not being supported by the people.”

Cllr Keane added that she was “so conscious of how democracy is supposed to work and if we allow this to happen it’s not democratic, it’s not right and it shouldn’t be allowed”.

The newly installed Councillor Dean Donnelly said he wanted to thank everyone and that he was willing to learn.