Mayoral pact in danger as two refuse to back Conneely

Date Published: 14-Feb-2013

BY DECLAN TIERNEY

There is mounting speculation that the Mayoral pact between three groupings on Galway City Council is in tatters and may result in a surprise Mayor being elected later this year.

Two members of Galway City Council have admitted that there are difficulties with the arrangement, which could result in controversial Councillor Padraig Conneely not getting the top job as had previously been agreed in a pact between the parties.

It would come as a major disappointment for Cllr Conneely if his attempts to become Mayor of Galway City for the second occasion were scuppered by his colleagues on Galway City Council.

The pact was set in stone back in 2009 and involved the three Fine Gael councillors, three Fianna Fáil councillors and three Independents.

Since then, it has resulted in Cllr Declan McDonnell (Ind), Cllr Michael Crowe (FF), Cllr Hildegarde Naughton (FG) and now Cllr Terry O’Flaherty (Ind) being Mayor. The initial agreement was that Cllr Conneely would be the final Mayor in this administration in advance of the 2014 Local Elections.

However, it has emerged that it will not be plain sailing for Cllr Conneely as the pact is likely to become unstuck because of his antagonistic behaviour in the City Council chamber with at least two of the existing pact members believed to be contemplating not supporting him.

In fact, the Galway City Tribune has learned there is every possibility that two or more of the nine person pact could vote with the Labour nominee for the Mayor, which is likely to be Cllr Billy Cameron.

It will take two members of the group of nine to breach the pact agreement to deny Cllr Conneely being installed as the next Mayor, but there is intense speculation that there is every possibility of this happening when it comes to the Mayoral election in June.

Fianna Fáil’s Cllr Peter Keane, who had a motion to sanction unruly councillors in the City Council chamber passed on Monday night, has told the Galway City Tribune that the pact was now “in difficulty”.

Cllr Declan McDonnell denied that he was orchestrating “a heave” against Cllr Conneely, but said that he was aware that some members of the pact of nine had difficulties with him.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.