Murphy rages over Cosmo
May 1993
THERE were angry scenes at this week’s meeting of Drogheda Corporation as councillors clashed over an emergency debate on the closure of the Cosmo clothing factory.
Ald. Tommy Murphy called for a suspension of standing orders at the beginning of the meeting so that councillors would have a chance to discuss the closure of the Mill Lnne factory and the subsequent loss of 26 jobs.
But as several councillors had not arrived at that stage it was agreed to defer the debate until later in the meeting when all councillors were present.
However, the lengthy agenda for the council meeting meant that it was past ten o’clock before the discussion on Cosmo was reached, by which time a number of councillors had left to go home. Ald. Murphy rounded angrily on Mayor Godfrey, saying that he had agreed to delay the debate so that more councillors could join in but that now a third of them had left early. Deputy Michael Bell was among the councillors who left the meeting at the end of the official agenda before the subject of Cosmo was raised, and Ald. Murphy pointed out that his absence from the debate was significant.
‘We have a TD in this town, and whether he is carrying my flag or whether he isn’t he is representing the people of this town, but he has gone,’ he said.