Mayor apologises, Catherine doesn’t and Padraig tears it

Date Published: 18-Dec-2007

THE FINAL City Council meeting of the year ended acrimoniously after just one hour following a war of words between two former Labour colleagues.

Mayor Tom Costello fired the opening shot by saying that he apologised to anyone who may have been offended by anything he had said in the heat of the moment at the previous council meeting, which had agreed on the new budget.

By the same token he was calling on Cllr. Catherine Connolly (Ind) to apologise for comments she had made about him. Cllr Connolly — also a Labour representative before leaving the party when she was not selected to run as an election candidate — said…..

Meanwhile, Fine Gael Councillor Padraig Conneely vowed not to be silenced about the issue of the Eyre Square overhaul as he publicly tore up a solicitor’s letter concerning the arbitration hearing at last night’s meeting.

Cllr. Conneely called on City Manager Joe MacGrath to confirm if the Council was facing a compensation bill of millions following the outcome of the first module of arbitration with the construction company Samuel Kingston.

He said he had received a letter from the solicitors A&L Goodbody instructing him not to discuss the arbitration. “I will tear it up. I will not be silenced. I don’t give that much for A&L Goodbody,” he declared.

The matter had…..