It means f***-all who is the mayor of the county

THE meeting between councillor Fiona McLoughlin Healy, her husband Bernard Healy, Fine Gael Director of Elections Brian Hayes and party General Secretary Tom Curran took place in December 2015 at the councillor’s constituency office in Newbridge, Co. Kildare. The following are excerpts from the meeting...

THE OFFENDING QUOTES

Brian Hayes: ‘It means f*** all who is the mayor of the county, to be very frank… county councillors running around the place pretending that they’re very important to the world and its mother.’

Brian Hayes: ‘If I was 12 weeks into a general election as a Dáil candidate I wouldn’t have time to be arsing around at a council meeting about a poxy motion that means f*** all. I’d be too busy on the doorsteps if I was a first-time candidate.’

Brian Hayes: ‘People interested in Dáil elections should not be hanging around council meetings bulls **** ing with bits of motions to people which mean nothing at the

end of the day, with all due respect. I’m just going to give you my take, if I was you and I was 8 weeks out from an election I’d be out [here Hayes double knocks on table] knocking on doors because that’s really where it matters. I think sometimes people get caught up in the whole council thing,’ he said.

THE CONTEXT

Fiona McLoughlin Healy: Have you heard about what’s going on at the council at the moment? Brian Hayes: No. Fiona: Have you, Tom? Tom Curran: I’ve heard some of it. Fiona: What have you heard? Tom: That you had some information – Brian: About a grant? About a grant or something? Fiona: That’s the most recent one.

Tom: Yeah, and that they didn’t, not alone did they not support you, but they opposed you.

TRANSPARENCY VERSUS GETTING ELECTED

Brian: I’m 22 years in politics, council, Seanad, Dáil, Europe so I’ve a bit of a clue what I’m talking about and I suppose when I set out to be elected, I wanted to be in the Dáil, in politics you have to concentrate on things that actually matter and you think that there is a lot of things that matter to you in the current circumstances that you raised, but actually the wider issue is how you can get yourself elected. Fiona: Can I tell you it’s not? Brian: I’ll just give you my experience Fiona: So you’re going to have to take your experience as your experience and maybe you were too used to meeting people where the seat is everything, it’s not for me.

Brian: Well, then you don’t understand what I was talking about. Fiona: Yes, I do. Brian: That’s the most important issue.

Fiona: But I won’t stand back and say that transparency isn’t important to the council.

Brian: No I’m not saying that, and I didn’t say that either, to be very frank, if I was 12 weeks into a general election as a Dáil candidate I wouldn’t have time to be arsing around the council talking about poxy motions that mean f*** all, to be very frank I would be to busy on the doorsteps, if I was a first-time Dáil candidate

Bernard: Sorry Brian, can I just say something and I hear what you’re saying, this is an illustration of the support or lack thereof.