25 June 2003: The Fianna Fail party in Naas Town Council is split down the middle following Cllr Willie Callaghan’s refusal last night to back his own party colleague Cllr Charlie Byrne for the position of Mayor of Naas.
He is supporting Fine Gael councillor Pat O’Reilly for the chair, in what KNN understands is a move in opposition to the wishes of many people within his own party cumann. Cllr Callaghan is also the chairman of the Naas cumann.
The situation came about following the sudden serious illness of the husband of Cllr Eibhlin Bracken, Enda - who has suffered a heart attack in Portugal - and a stalemate position in which Cllr Byrne might have been elected in a draw from a hat was forestalled when the AGM was adjourned on the proposal of Cllr O'Reilly, who stands to gain most from such an adjournment.
The original AGM had already been adjourned once because Cllr Bracken, widely expected to support Cllr Callaghan's attempt to have Cllr O'Reilly elected, was on holidays.
Cllr Callaghan was the first to hold the new title of Mayor of Naas in the current council but his party colleague has not held that post in this term of office. The pact to rotate the chair consists of Cllrs Callaghan (FF), Pat O’Reilly (FG), Eibhlin Bracken (Ind), Seamie Moore (Ind) and Mayor Timmy Conway who recently left the PDs to join Fine Gael.
It was on the cards that the voting last night would end in a 4-4 situation unless Cllr Callaghan supported his own party colleague.
However, he sided with what has become known as the 'Gang of Five' in voting to adjourn the AGM to allow Cllr Eibhlin Bracken return from Portugal, given that the 'gang' was down one in numbers.
A letter from Cllr Bracken's daughter Orla, saying that her mother wanted such an adjournment, was read out at last night’s meeting by town clerk Declan Kirrane.
Cllr O'Reilly, who stands to gain the most from the adjournment - and who has already served a term as Cathaoirleach of the current council - proposed that the AGM should be adjourned.
The meeting then descended into utter farce, when a majority of councillors voted to keep the mayorship within their own circle - in the full knowledge that a number of ‘opposition’ councillors would be away on family holidays on July 4, the date fixed for the adjourned meeting.
Cllr Mary Glennon objected to any further adjournment, saying that she herself will be on holidays for the rest of the statutory period left in which to hold the AGM. "My holiday has already been paid for," she said. "With all due respect and sympathy for Mrs Bracken and her husband, there is no reason why we can’t go on with the meeting tonight."
Cllr Pat McCarthy, asking that the meeting go ahead, noted that they could postpone it now and find next week that Cllr Bracken still might not be back. "There are restraints under Standing Orders as to how long we can restrain this AGM, given that it is already a week late and in July a lot of people have holiday arrangements made. We all make our personal plans around the meetings and it’s very difficult to postpone the meeting."
Cllr Byrne, who had written in the last week to all the members of the local Fianna Fail cumann asking them to canvass Cllr Callaghan to support him for the position of Mayor, added his sympathies for Enda Bracken to similar sentiments expressed by Cllrs Glennon and McCarthy, and said a problem could arise for any one of the councillors who would be unavailable in the next week.
Mayor Timmy Conway asked for legal advice from the town clerk, who said the Mayor was entitled to adjourn the meeting but it must be within 14 days of 21 June. The adjourned meeting would be Friday 4 July. Mayor Conway then expressed his own agreement with Cllr Bracken's request and put it to the meeting that they postpone it and set another date.
Cllr Glennon said such situations have arisen before and meetings had gone on, and she asked how were they to determine when Cllr Bracken would be coming back, as it wasn't stated in the letter? "I am sure she will totally understand if we have to go ahead," she said.
Cllr Byrne asked if any other member of the Council is unavailable within the next week and writes requesting an adjournment of the meeting, was the council in a position to adjourn the meeting again?
Cllr Anthony Egan said he had no objection for adjourning the meeting to later on THIS week, but he didn't see any advantage in trying to 'get one person back next week and be losing three more people' who are on holidays at that time.
Cllr O'Reilly said these were 'extremely unusual circumstances' and the members should afford Mrs Bracken every opportunity to get back in time for the AGM.
Cllr Byrne said Mayor Conway was being 'very unjust' to the members of this Council "You are acting the part of the arrogant again," he said. "You couldn’t care less about the other members of the Council. I think it’s disgraceful!"
In the vote on Cllr O'Reilly's proposal to adjourn the meeting, Mayor Conway used his casting vote to beat a 4:4 stalemate.
Afterwards, surrounded by many members of the local Fianna Fail Cumann, Cllr Byrne reiterated his opinion that the meeting had been 'a disgusting carry on'.
"The Mayor and the clique have made it impossible for this council to function," he said. "They had an equal chance of winning the chair tonight and had nothing to be afraid of. I am severely disappointed with my own party colleague Willie Callaghan that he would vote with the opposition, but that’s nothing new."
Cllr Egan said that to exclude three councillors on the basis that one side may or may not have the presence of one councillor is 'democracy turned on its head'.
Cllr Glennon said the other side were 'afraid that they haven’t got their numbers'. "Tonight Willie Callaghan sided with the Mayor Timmy Conway, now a member of Fine Gael, and Pat O’Reilly, Fine Gael, against his own party colleague," she scorned.
Tony Maher of the Sallins Road Action group said afterwards that what happened 'is consistent with the level of politics that has been carried on here in the last few years'.
