FF/FG keep SF out of chair
Sinn Féin may represent the largest bloc of voters in the town of
Monaghan but this did not prevent Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and
Independent members from yet again keeping the republican party's
nominee out of the chair of the Urban District Council.
At a stormy AGM of Monaghan UDC on Monday 15 June Caoimhghín
O Caoláin TD nominated Owen Smyth for the position of chair for
1998/99 and he was seconded by Pádraigín Uí Mhurchadha. These
three Sinn Féin councillors all secured election in 1994 on the first count and
with surpluses.
Despite this mandate, and their unequalled record of work, Sinn
Féin has never held the chair of the council. They were opposed
again this week by the unholy alliance of FF, FG and Independent
members who secured the election to the chair, for the second
time in the current UDC, of Francis Macklin of FG.
Even though Sinn Féin had in previous years supported Independent
and FG nominees for chair, the representatives of these groups
voted with FF who last year broke the pattern of chair rotation
and challenged SF's right to take their place. The Sinn Féin
councillors described the exclusion as ``a travesty''.
The strength of the Sinn Féin protest meant that the second part
of the manoeuvre - the nomination of John Clerkin (FF) as
vice-chair to keep out Owen Smyth (SF) - did not materialise.
Smyth was elected vice-chair. Pádraigín Uí Mhurchadha said: ``The
voters will not have long to wait to give their verdict on the
anti-democratic antics of these councillors.''
A more positive result is expected on Thursday night when Sinn
Féin seeks the election of Peter McAleer as chair of Clones UDC.
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