Numbers seem stacked against Lawlor

WITH a pact already in place ahead of Cllr George Lawlor’s election as Mayor of Wexford last year, there was an element of a foregone conclusion about the vote at Wexford Arts Centre. While veteran councillor David Hynes had initially been approached to join the mooted ‘left of centre’ pact, he declined after it emerged that Sinn Féin councillor Tom Forde was not to be included and instead one of the four pact members would serve two terms as Mayor.

Before last year’s vote took place, councillors Hynes and Forde congratulated Cllr Lawlor in advance before leaving the room. The pair walked out in protest at the ‘out of date’ pact system and the exclusion of some elected representatives. Now with this pact seemingly set to break down, it appears likely that the system put forward by Cllr Hynes and supported by Cllr Forde may come into play as Cllr Lawlor looks set to be denied a second stint as Mayor. Under this system, each of the top five polling candidates would serve as Mayor. With the vote very much looking like it’s moving that way, Hynes and Forde may also be set to serve terms as Deputy Mayor under the new agreement.

‘I’m glad Cllr Kelly made this decision,’ Cllr Hynes said of the most recent developments.

‘It seems to me he made a mistake and now he’s standing up for what he believes in. You have to be able to look yourself in the mirror at the end of the day. I think it was a really outrageous situation to have four people deciding for the seven councillors and for someone to be serving two terms.’

Cllr Hynes had little sympathy for Cllr Lawlor missing out on a second term, pointing out that he had served the last term of the last council as well, effectively meaning he would have served three terms in a row as Mayor.

‘Nobody should serve two terms in this day and age,’ he said.

‘George can think people are out to get him all he wants, but what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. For a young man he’s been Mayor more than enough times. Nobody is entitled to be Mayor under our current system.’

‘I hope going forward, the next people elected won’t be so greedy to think they can have four people sew up the whole five year term.’

Cllr Forde is also vociferous in his support for what is known as the ‘D’Hondt system’.

‘I’ve always agreed that the first five councillors to be elected should each have a year as mayor,’ he said.

‘I’ve been consistent on this since the election of the current council just over one year ago and even in the months before it. That’s the way I will vote and that’s the way I plan on voting in the future.

‘On that basis I would be excluding myself from the position (Mayor) but that is not what is important to me. Fair is fair. We may have political differences, but I respect the mandate of each party and individual. I have always shown the highest respect to the decision of the voters and I strongly believe that the office of the Mayor should reflect the decision of the electorate as broadly as possible, taking into account the different parties and none.’

Cllr Forde went on to say that no party or individual ‘should be seeking to exclude others from the position of Mayor to get as long out of it as they can for themselves’ and stated that it was his belief that Cllr Kelly had changed his mind for ‘honest reasons and in the interest of fairness’.

Following the walkout staged by councillors Forde and Hynes at last year’s mayoral election, there was only one person left sitting at the table who would find themselves outside of the pact - Fine Gael’s John Hegarty. He voted in favour of Cllr Lawlor to be Mayor at the time, but now stands to gain a term as Mayor under the new agreement.

‘Obviously I wasn’t a part of the pact last year and I’m still not part of any pact this year,’ he said.

‘I had no issue voting for George Lawlor to be Mayor last year because I felt he was a suitable candidate for the job.

‘Would I vote for somebody else to take the chains this year? Absolutely. I don’t think it’s necessarily appropriate to have someone serve two terms in a row as Mayor.’

Cllr Lawlor’s party colleague Cllr Maura Bell said she was surprised by the turn that events had taken.

‘Obviously this is my first involvement in politics, so all this was new to me,’ she said.

‘But having entered into an arrangement, I would’ve expected everyone to see it through. For me, my word is my bond. I wouldn’t be overly happy with the situation. When Cllr Kelly rang me a week ago, it was the first I’d heard of it and I couldn’t fathom why he had decided to change his mind. He just said he had made a mistake and that’s it.’

Cllr Garry Laffan was unreachable for comment at the time of going to print, but as things stand, it seems that the numbers will be stacked against Cllr Lawlor serving his second term when the members vote on June 29.

With councillors Kelly, Forde, Hynes and Hegarty vowing to vote against anyone serving a second term, it appears that regardless of which way Cllr Laffan votes, Cllr Lawlor will be forced to relinquish the chains and the pact will be no more.