Fractious first meeting of new city council

Galway Bay fm newsroom- The new Mayor of Galway Donal Lyons has prioritised winning the City of Culture 2020 and tackling the housing crisis for his year in office
The Independent councillor was elected last night under a pact between the 4 Fine Gael, 2 Labour and 5 independent members but the power arrangement led to a fractious first meeting
The voting pact allowed Cllr Lyons to see off the challenge of new councillor Mairead Farrell of Sinn Fein by 12 votes to 6
Although Fianna Fail cllr Peter Keane told the chamber of his party’s disgust at the manner in which the pact was put together, echoing similar proclamations by his party colleagues during the week, he voted with the pact in the mayoral election
It’s understood that he wanted to support Cllr Lyons as a fellow Knocknacarra resident despite his misgivings about the power arrangement
This caused a split in the party vote because Fianna Fail’s Ollie and Michael Crowe
supported Cllr Farrell along with her two fellow party councillors and Independent Catherine Connolly
The deep rooted bitterness felt by Fianna Fail, who were part of the pact in the old council, trickled down into the voting in of committee members later in the meeting
and presenting the Mayor with a difficult first meeting to chair.