Donegal Sinn Féin -- Building an Ireland of Equals

"Fianna Fáil continue to defend the indefensible on budget controversy"- Cllr Pádraig Mac Lochlainn

Published: 18 January, 2010

"Fianna Fáil continue to defend the indefensible on budget controversy"- Cllr Pádraig Mac Lochlainn

Sinn Féin will now work to advance all inclusive power sharing

Sinn Féin group leader on Donegal County Council, Cllr Pádraig has accused the Fianna Fáil of "continuing to defend the indefensible" over their actions at the council's budget meeting before Christmas. He was speaking after today's special meeting on the budget debacle where the 10 Fianna Fáil councillors passed the budget while the other 19 councillors were in a room across the corridor discussing how they could achieve further efficiency savings and cuts to commercial rates.

Cllr Mac Lochlainn said:

"I was genuinely stunned at the brass neck of the Fianna Fáil councillors at today's meeting. From their contributions, you would have thought that it was they who were disenfranchised at the budget meeting. There wasn't even the hint of regret on their behalf. Their strategy to block motions from the majority of councillors condemning the actions of the Mayor and Fianna Fáil failed as the majority of councillors, in their contributions, expressed no confidence in how both the Mayor and his Fianna Fáil party passed the budget".

"The Fianna Fáil councillors boldly and brazenly declared that they would "set the record straight" at today's meeting. What actually emerged at the meeting served only to further embarrass them. Their attempts to impugn the character of myself and other councillors degenerated into farce. It is also now clear that further cuts to commercial rates and efficiency savings were attainable if Fianna Fáil had of worked with the other parties and councillors".

He continued

"Sinn Féin are content that the majority of councillors on Donegal County Council today publicly and formally registered their disgust and condemnation of the actions of the ten Fianna Fáil councillors. Now it is time to move on with normal council business. Last week our party outlined proposals for a new all inclusive approach to power sharing on council. They were:

A commitment by all parties and elected members on Donegal County Council to all inclusive power sharing, including the following allocation of Mayors and Deputy Mayors over the remaining four and a half years, Fianna Fáil to complete this mayoral term and one more year, Fine Gael one year, Sinn Féin one year, and the final year to be agreed between Fine Gael, Independents, and the Labour party. The sequence of the respective terms can be agreed in discussions between all groupings on council.

The convening of a Special Meeting of Donegal County Council as soon as possible, where all groupings on council can again put their proposals for the budget up for discussion and consensus, aimed at mutual respect, and to demonstrate to rate payers and tax payers in the county that all options for efficiencies and cost savings are being actively pursued. Upon agreement, council motions can then be passed to enact the decisions.

An agreement that in all future budget meetings, following presentations from the County Manager and senior council officials, a spokesperson from every political grouping will outline their initial response to the draft budget, including proposals of their own and following the traditional adjournment for lunch, all 29 elected members will convene a meeting aimed at arriving at an inclusive and consensus based approach to the budget".

He concluded:

"We have had a very positive response to our proposals from all councillors with the exception of Fianna Fáil. However, we are hopeful that they will eventually see the merits of our arguments and learn from the mistakes of the budget meeting. Our focus in the time ahead is to achieve a council based on mutual respect and maximum consensus".

ENDS