Willie Aird has been elected as the chairman of the Portlaoise Municipal District for the next 12 months – but only after a fairly intense debate.
This was the AGM of the Portlaoise area of Laois County Council and the only item on the agenda was to elect the chair and vice-chair.
Fine Gael’s Barry Walsh kicked things off by proposing his party colleague for chair which was seconded by Fianna Fail’s Catherine Fitzgerald.
Newly elected Independent Tommy Mulligan the proposed Sinn Fein’s Caroline Dwane-Stanley, which was seconded by Labour’s Marie Tuohy, but only after Mulligan launched into a passionate plea for ‘fairness’.
He said: “I am asking Fianna Fail and Fine Gael to show some equity in this chamber that hasn’t been evident since Sinn Fein, Labour or the Independents have gained seats.
“I am asking Fianna Fail and Fine Gael to forget about your mantra of control and self-interest at all costs.
“I am asking Fianna Fail and Fine Gael to show some respect for the Technical Group and the mandate that we have received in the election a couple of weeks back.
“There are ten positions up for grabs over the next five years. Five chairs and five vice-chairs. Together, you are the largest party with 57% of the vote and we have 43% of the vote.”
Cllr Mulligan also said that the Technical Group has two out of the three Councillors who reached the quota in Portlaoise – himself and Cllr Dwane-Stanley.
He later conceded though, after correction from Fianna Fail’s Catherine Fitzgerald, that both she and Cllr John Joe Fennelly were elected on reaching the quota too.
Cllr Mulligan said: “A fair system would be appointments by proportional representation. I, and we, are asking that Fianna Fail Fine Gael do not continue your policy of exclusion.
“I am a new face and I would like to see a new approach. I am asking you personally to show leadership and treat us fairly and equally.”
A vote then took place with Cllr Aird receiving four votes, himself, Catherine Fitzgerald, Barry Walsh and John Joe Fennelly.
Cllr Dwane-Stanley received three votes from herself, Marie Tuohy and Tommy Mulligan so Cllr Aird was elected.
Following his election, Cllr Aird hit back at Cllr Mulligan – who is a primary school teacher by profession.
He said: “I want to thank my proposer and seconder – I can’t remember when I was last in the chair so I can’t be accused of hogging it.
“Tommy, I listened to the history lesson from the school teacher. I just want to say that 50% or 57% is the majority, that is the situation.
“I am delighted to be chair and if you want a history lesson, read back and see what happened since 1979. That would be the fairest way of seeing and it would show who I voted for down through the years.”
Cllr Dwane-Stanley said: “We can’t look back, we have to look forward. We live in the present and we look to the future.
“I want to thank Tommy and Marie for proposing and seconding me here today. I am on the Council since 2011 and since I came on, we have been excluded from any position.
“The general public don’t even realise that this is going on. This is wrong and yee know it. It is also undemocratic.
“For the first time ever, we have four and yee have three. It was always five versus two. But at no time have yee ever decided to recognise the group who were democratically elected.
“This is an opportunity to do that because otherwise, someone in your group is going to end up in chairman role twice over the five years which is wrong.
“So I am asking you to reconsider that and to come back to the group and offer us at least one year. Yee know in your heart and soul that this is wrong.
“We need to get the message out to the public that Fianna Fail and Fine Gael come together as a pact, take everything and exclude 43% of the electorate.”
Cllr Aird disputed the percentage figures of the vote and Cllr Mulligan told him he could do it for him on his calculator.
Cllr Aird said: “I don’t need any lessons from a school teacher. I don’t need lectures from you.”
Cllr Mulligan retorted: “Why are you bringing ‘school teacher’ into this. I am not giving you lectures.”
Cllr Mulligan then accused Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald of trying to prevent him from speaking further.
She said that she was just asking Cllr John Joe Fennelly about the vice-chair position and was not trying to stop Cllr Mulligan from speaking – so the Independent Cllr apologised to her for saying she had said otherwise.
Cllr Aird said he was “disappointed by your (Cllr Mulligan’s) attitude.
“I don’t need history lessons. I am here since 1979. I know who I voted for down through the years and who was in the chair.”
Cllr Mulligan continued: “There was no need to address me as ‘school teacher’ and I was not giving a history lesson.
“I was stating the facts and I know that if I asked you individually if it was fair what was going on, if I asked Barry or Catherine if it was fair?”
Cllr Fitzgerald said: “It is democracy. It is a bit like the way Sinn Fein keep saying that they won the last election.
“They didn’t win it. People voted for whoever they voted for and at the end of the day, they put it together and whoever forms the government wins. That is democracy.”
Cllr Dwane-Stanley said: “We are talking here today about municipal chairs.
“I don’t need a lecture from Fianna Fail about Sinn Fein and their last General Election.
“We have shone a clear light here about what has gone on here and what is going on for years. So for anyone to sit here and call that ‘democracy’, we need to go back and get a good look at the word ‘democracy’.”
We then had the vote for vice-chair with Fianna Fail’s Catherine Fitzgerald up against Independent Tommy Mulligan.
Fitzgerald won that 4-3 again so she will serve as Aird’s deputy for the next year.
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