Row over new Mayor is settled by FG HQ

Date Published: 16-May-2011

BY ENDA CUNNINGHAM

The row over the Mayoral chain between two city Fine Gael councillors has been settled, following an intervention from party headquarters.

It has been agreed that Hildegarde Naughton will be the ‘Mayoral Pact’ nominee for the next Mayor of Galway, when a vote is held next month.

However, it’s understood that the pact (between the three Fine Gael and three Fianna Fáil and the three former PD councillors) could be facing collapse unless Cllr Naughton apologises for an accusation she made last January that her colleagues were “doing the bidding” of “elite vested interests” when it came to land rezoning decisions.

But she said yesterday there would be no apologies for her comments.

“I make no apologies. I made my stance very clear on planning issues and what my reasons were. I believe it was the right thing to do and continue to believe that,” she told the Sentinel yesterday (Monday).

Last week, Fine Gael’s General Secretary asked Deputy Brian Walsh to intervene in the row, because it was seen by angry Fine Gaelers as “an embarrassment to the party”.

Under the terms of a Mayoral Pact agreed in 2009, Cllr Naughton was due to serve as Mayor for 2011-12. However, following the election of Brian Walsh to the Dáil and subsequent co-option of Frank Fahy to the City Council, Cllr Padraig Conneely entered a separate deal which would see him elected Mayor – for the second time in four years.

However, the matter was resolved on Sunday at a meeting with Brian Walsh and FG Constituency Chairperson Enda Howley – Cllr Naughton will be the party nominee for Mayor next month. They have also agreed to support Cllr Terry O’Flaherty for Mayor in 2012-13 with Frank Fahy as Deputy Mayor, while Cllr Conneely will be the nomination for Mayor in 2013-14.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.