Marie gets a pasting for Ross meeting
AS you all know, today i s Budget D a y. We a r e a l l w a i t i n g w i t h bated breath f or the goodie bag Paschal Donohoe will hand out. None more so than Sligo County Councillor Marie Casserly, af ter the unmerciful savaging she got at the start of the October County Council meeting l ast week.
Marie will be hoping for a big wad of cash today from Transport Minister Shane Ross to build the Western Distributor Road between Caltragh and Mitchell- Curley Park.
But let’s rewind a moment, back to last Monday’s County Council meeting when everything was pre-budget and still possible.
On the agenda was a resolution referred from a Procedures Committee (who knew?) meeting held on 18th of September.
The councillors wanted to make it Council policy that the Cathaoirleach or Leas Cathaoirleach will accompany Council officials at meetings with Ministers in future.
It was prompted by Cllr Casserly who last August brought fellow independent Councillor Michael Clarke, Sligo County Council Director of Services Tom Kilfeather and Sligo Chamber CEO Aidan Doyle up to Dublin to meet Minister Shane Ross.
And the Cathaoirleach wasn’t even told about it. This would not do, at all at all.
Marie was an elected representative, she owed it to the Chair to at least have the decency to tell him that the meeting was taking place, fumed Cathaoirleach Cllr Seamus Kilgannon.
“I think the first thing you should do is apologise to the Chair,” he said, livid.
If Seamus thought he was going to get an easy apology, he had another thing coming. The meeting happened and Marie thought the most important thing that happened was that the meeting happened.
“Are you going to apologise?” pressed Seamus, to the delight of an entire class from IT Sligo sitting in the public gallery. Cornered, Marie gave the classic non-apology apology.
“Well if you think an apology is warranted” she trailed off.
Seamus was just warming up. If it happened to Marie we’d hear all about it in the local media, “that’s a fact”.
Grabbing a shovel, Marie replied that the Acting CEO of Leitrim County Council was there as well.
A mountain was being made out of a molehill. For years we had been asking for representations to be made and when a representation was made, “you’re giving out”.
Elder statesman of the Chamber Cllr Declan Bree cut in. In all his (many) years, he didn’t ever remember a meeting taking place with a Minister without either a Cathaoirleach or Leas Cathaoirleach being present.
It was tradition. He didn’t know if it was because Seamus was Fianna Fáil (as is the Leas Cathaoirleach Cllr Keith Henry) that he wasn’t notified but it was certainly not policy not to invite him.
“You were elected by us, you represent us,” he declared.
Just in case she wasn’t clear, Seamus said it again: “When you involve officials from this County to a meeting you owe it to the Chair to invite them to the meeting.” What part of that didn’t she understand?
Seamus was missing the point, said Marie, missing the point.
“So what did you get?” shot back Seamus, rolling up his sleeves for more filleting.
Marie got a meeting with the Minister. With Sligo County Council officials. Couldn’t he see how unworkable it would be, to have to drag along a Cathaoirleach on the odd occasion that a Council official happened to be in Dublin when a Minister felt like meeting them?
The Chair deserves the respect to be informed of any meetings or development that are being proposed within the County, regardless of political persuasion said Cllr Hubert Keaney wading in to the fray.
Once it becomes a Council matter, his first port of call was to the Cathaoirleach. It was a matter of mutual respect.
The first citizen deserves 100 per cent co-operation and respect, he spat.
Cllr Margaret Gormley wanted to know what was discussed at this meeting, because dammit if she hadn’t been inviting Shane Ross to Sligo at every Council meeting since he became Transport Minster to come down and see the state of the roads here for himself.
“I was told four months ago he was coming down in two months!” she cried.
Shane was able to go to open a bypass in Galway and he’s still not here! Were Class 3 roads even discussed?
Cllr Tom MacSharry said it was a meeting of the Independent Alliance and their friends. He also wanted to know what commitments Marie got in exchange for her (nearly) solo run?
“The Western Distributor Road is top of the priority list,” said a by now, rather glum Marie. Not even Michael Clarke was there to back her up. The whole row was being turned into a political football she complained.
Did someone say political football? No, no no, this was above politics, not so “low” as that, thundered Cllr Rosaleen O’Grady who up until now had kept her powder dry.
She was sure that when Cllr Casserly was a teacher in Ballisodare she would have informed the principal if a Minster was visiting, she reminded her.
There was an ethical code that people follow and people respect each Cathaoirleach regardless of their politics.
Marie should withdraw her political football comment.
“There’s a code we live by” she said, making it very clear Marie had Broken. The. Code.
“Loath” to get dragged into it, Council CEO Ciarán Hayes said from his point of view, he met Ministers all the time and casually name-dropped several ministers he’d been in the same room as in recent weeks.
The current proposal might cramp his style.
He wouldn’t be able to do his job if they forced him to have the Cathaoirleach with him every time he came within shouting range of a government minister.
Back pedalling furiously, Marie wanted it put on the record that she had the “utmost of respect” for the First Citizen of Sligo.
But Seamus wasn’t letting it go at that. She saw nothing wrong with what happened. She’d do it again, he pointed out.
So why didn’t she just ask the Cathaoirleach in the first place said Declan Bree. “It didn’t come up,” came the stony reply. “That’s the problem, it should have come up,” pounced Hubert, simultaneously furious at Marie and shocked at himself that he actually agreed with Declan Bree for once.
“It didn’t enter into your head because you didn’t want them there” he glowered.
“We got the only opportunity to make a presentation,” tried Marie for one last time.
“We look forward to the announcement in the budget,” said Cllr Tom MacSharry, referring to the Western Distributor Road.
He won’t be the only one. And, Ross was to come to Sligo in September. If there’s no good news then he’ ll probably stay away for another awhile. MEP Marian Harkin, Cllr Michael Clarke, Cllr Marie Casserly, Minister Shane Ross, Sligo Chamber CEO Aidan Doyle and Sligo County Council Director of Services Tom Kilfeather at the August meeting to which the Cathaoirleach Cllr Kilgannon was not invited.