Nicholas new chairman of the Louth council
FARMER, Nicholas McCabe, from Crinstown, Ardee, is the new chairman of Louth County Council. Mr, McCabe (Fianna Fail - right) was elected at the first meeting of the council, held in Drogheda on Tuesday morning, when the decisive vote cast in his favour was that of Mr. D.Mac Raghnaill (Sinn Fein, Gardiner Place), as it gave Mr. McCabe a majority of one (12 votes to 11) over his Fine Gael opponent, Mr. P. J. O’Hare, the outgoing chairman.
The two Independent members from Dundalk, and the Sinn Fein (Kevin St.) member, all abstained from voting for the chair, or for the position of vice-chairman, into which Mr. Edward Filgate, from Louth Village, was elected, again beating Mr. O’Hare by 12 votes to 11.
Although he has been a member of the Council for 19 years, it is Mr. McCabe’s first term as chairman. A former chairman of Louth Committee of Agriculture, he will be hoping that future Council meetings won’t be as “stormy” as Tuesday’s as there was fierce political wrangling for almost every position on every committee, with Fianna Fail holding the whip hand.
The struggle for control of the Committee of Agriculture resulted in one of the most heated political debates heard at a Co. Council meeting for some time, with accusations flying about freely, and being interrupted at one stage by a newly elected member, Mr. M. Bell (FF), accusing his fellow councillors of behaving like a “load of children”, and with an Independent, Mr. S. McGuinness, commenting that he was being educated at the meeting, and adding that he was glad he didn’t vote politically if that was the way the political parties behaved.
The chairman, Mr. McCabe, had a rough ride, especially during the election for the Committee of Agriculture, and he was accused at one stage by Sen. B. Markey of trying to overstep his mark, while Mr. P. Buckley shouted towards the chairman: ‘” You are trying to walk us into a trap. There will be no trickery here”.
However, in the end the chairman managed to restore order, with the Committee finally being elected. Because of the reduction in the electoral areas in the county, the Committee had to be reduced in size from 20 to 16. There seemed to be no dispute that the councillors should retain 12 of the seats, but when it came to fill the other four seats, then the wrangling started, with Muintir na Tire losing their seat in the end. The meeting opened with Mr. M. Coburn proposing Mr. O’Hare for the chair, seconded by Mr. Buckley. Mr. Filgate proposed Mr. McCabe, seconded by Mr. Malone. Voting then resulted as follows: McCabe—Messrs Bell, Berrills, Kirk (S.), Kirk (J.), Farrell (J.). Farrell (A.), Savage, McCabe, Malone, Filgate, Connor, MacRagnaill—12.
O’Hare—Messrs Byrne, Brannigan, Moore. Markey, O’Hare, Elmore, Roddy, Lennon, Coburn, Buckley and Mrs. O’Rourke—11. Messrs Bellew, McGuinness and Browne abstained.
On taking the chair, Mr. McCabe referred to the great honour bestowed on him, and added that he would try and be as fair and impartial as possible; He paid tribute to the impartiality of the outgoing chairman, saying that the last year had been one of his most satisfying on the Council. He called for a planned housing programme throughout the county, building houses in areas where there were amenities like schools and churches, and more progress on water and sewerage schemes during the coming years.
The members of the Committee of Agriculture are as follows: Messrs Kirk (S.), Filgate. Savage, McCabe, Kirk (J.). Elmore, O’Hare. Markey, Roddy and Byrne. Mr. Jimmy Malone, Ardee, was also elected but he stood down in favour of Pat Sharkey from Knockabbey, Tallanstown, who, he said, was a progressive young farmer and knew more about agriculture than he did.
Harry Fairclough, Drogheda, was elected to the National Monuments Advisory Committee, together with Michael O’Flynn (Ardee).