An attempt by Cllr Michael Hanley to have a motion set aside at last week’s meeting of the Town Council resulted in a vote that was misconstrued plus a walkout by the councillor, who believed his motion had been defeated.

Cllr Hanley wanted members to set aside the decision of the September Traffic Management sub-committee meeting to appoint a permanent person to represent matters affecting the disabled, in favour of such a person just being invited to those meetings where issues of relevance to them arise.

It was Cllr Tadhg O’Donovan who had proposed such a member be invited onto the committee. His proposal was seconded by Cllr Noel McCarthy. Cllr Hanley spoke of the conduct of Cllr O’Donovan at that meeting in front of their visitors.

“I was subjected to bullying,” he alleged, saying “Cllr O’Donovan has been a source of constant stress to me regarding standing orders. The man that is so in love with standing orders has often been in breach of them. There have been reports in the local media by him claiming credit which are clearly not true.” He said the taxi rank issue, which had been created at the expense of a disabled parking space, was the final straw. He asked that they set aside the motion “for very good reasons.”

Cllr Collette Dolan Moore seconded the motion, saying she agreed totally. “I would support them being at meetings if they are being affected by changes,” she stressed.

Cllr Noel McCarthy complimented Cllr Hanley saying he’s been a very good chair of the traffic management sub-committee and someone who could take great praise for his work regarding the flood relief works. “But I’m baffled as to why he wants to overturn a legitimate decision.” He pointed out that members are regularly co-opted onto other committees and cited as examples, the town park sub-committee and the joint policing committee. “Why not have them at every meeting? We don’t know when a discussion is going to arise that affects them,” he pointed out. Cllr Noel Barnes said he didn’t see why the disabled couldn’t have a representative on the committee.

Cllr Seamus Coleman also thought those representatives should be on the committee and said he’d have a problem voting in favour of the motion.

“I think if a person wants to come on to a committee and contribute they should be able to. We’re not a Dail committee, we’re a local committee of ordinary people,” Cllr John Murphy added.

Mayor Olive Corcoran said she’d contacted representatives of the disabled community who attended the meeting and was told they weren’t interested in attending all traffic sub-comittee meetings, just those that dealt with issues relevant to them.   

Cllr O’Donovan had tabled his own motion calling on the council to express disappointment at the failure to advertise for nominees to declare an interest in being a representative of people with disabilities on the committee. “What is relevant to able-bodied people may not be to the disabled. If people knew the very strong feelings of the disabled about the taxi rank, it would never have been passed,” he said. “You can shut me up but you won’t shut up the disabled of this town.” 

Cllr Hanley countered by saying: “You shouldn’t be there if you’re not able to make judgement calls. That’s what this is. They’re not interested in coming on the committee. The case for bringing them in doesn’t stand up,” he said, adding that Cllr O’Donovan ‘has a way of dealing with things that makes meetings unpleasant’.

Cllr O’Donovan insisted that the motion was passed and the notice was supposed to go in the paper.

The matter was then put to a vote via a show of hands. That’s where it got confusing. Supporting his motion was Cllr Hanley himself, Cllr Dolan Moore, Cllr Pa O’Driscoll and Mayor Olive Corcoran. With five members left, Cllr Hanley’s motion looked set to be defeated. Only four members though raised their hands – councillors O’Donovan, McCarthy, Barnes and Murphy. Cllr Coleman said afterwards he just didn’t manage to get his hand up in time for the vote. He had already indicated that he wouldn’t be supporting Cllr Hanley. In any event, the Mayor thought she saw five hands raised and declared that the motion had failed at which point Cllr Hanley rose from his seat and left the council chambers, saying something about ‘resigning’. It was unclear as to whether he was intending to resign from the town council or the traffic management sub-committee. It was also unclear as to whether the Mayor’s declaration that the motion had been defeated stood, in light of the fact that voting was four-four even, though Cllr Coleman stressed that he had intended voting against.

After Cllr Hanley left the meeting, Cllr O’Donovan pressed the town clerk to put the public notice in the newspaper. She agreed and the notice subsequently appeared in The Avondhu which suggests that Cllr Hanley’s motion did indeed fail.

On Friday last he clarified the matter of his resignation, saying it had been his intention to step down from the traffic management sub-committee only. He had however, been prevailed upon by the Gardai to remain in situ and has since decided to do so.