Selection process underway to fill vacant City Council seats

Nominations have closed for the Green Party co-option of a new councillor to Galway City Council.

The party will choose someone to fill the vacancy left by Pauline O’Reilly, who was elected to Seanad Éireann last month.

Senator O’Reilly, who was elected to the Council last May in Galway City West, has not endorsed anyone for the position.

It’s understood there is considerable interest in the position, and a postal ballot will take place later this month if there are two or more candidates.

In the event just one name is put forward, the Green Party national executive must rubberstamp the selection. If there is a vote, a selection convention will be held by video conference on Wednesday, May 20, with ballots to be returned by May 26.

Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil is planning to wait until the end of the Summer before hosting a selection convention to select someone to replace Ollie Crowe, who was also elected to the Seanad.

The party is hoping to hold a conventional face-to-face convention and has decided – for now – to wait until physical distancing restrictions on large gatherings are eased to facilitate that.

As things stand, it is likely to be September at the earliest before the Fianna Fáil co-option will proceed. Senator Crowe was the only Fianna Fáil councillor elected to the Upper House.

Elsewhere, the May meeting of Galway City Council has been postponed. The Procedures Committee of the Council met using teleconferencing on Tuesday of this week and decided to defer the Ordinary meeting scheduled for next Monday, May 11.

The Procedures Committee meets again on May 19, and is likely to recommend holding the June Ordinary meeting on June 8.

Cllr Mike Crowe (FF) has suggested the Council examine using Leisureland as an alternative venue for meetings where 18 councillors, management officials, media and some members of the public could gather within the social distancing restrictions.

“Well it’s not going to be used by Daniel O’Donnell or anyone else for the next while, so we may as well use a building that is ours, rather than renting a hotel room. We should spend a bit of money on it if we have to, because we genuinely don’t know how long this social distancing is going to continue for. It could be next year before we can meet in the Council chamber again,” said Cllr Crowe.

He has proposed that Leisureland be used for Joint Policing Committee meetings and Council SPCs (Strategic Policy Committee) meetings for the duration of the Covid-19 emergency.

The City Council has not met since March due to Covid-19. An AGM of the Council must happen in June, when a mayor will be elected to replace Mike Cubbard. Independent Noel Larkin is next in line under the mayoral pact.