Sometimes controversial, always outspoken and Castlebar’s most popular councillor Michael Kilcoyne will be the man behind the Mayoral chain in the county town for the coming year after he signed a pact with Fine Gael to ensure their control over the local authority following the local elections.
There was an element of surprise when poll topper Kilcoyne was chosen over Labour Cllr Harry Barrett to form the pact, but it is probably fitting that the man who won every ballot box in the town bar two and who sucked up 20 per cent of the vote, should wear the chain of office for a term. In terms of the county council votes, there wasn’t a box from Tourmakeady to Lahardane that Kilcoyne hadn’t a vote in - testament to the reputation he has built as a hard worker and straight talker.
Kilcoyne’s deputy, newly elected Cllr Noreen Heston, made history herself in becoming the first Fine Gael female councillor to be elected to Castlebar Town Council.
The Consumer Association vice chairman has always been involved in representation work of one kind or another through a 30-year career working for trade unions. Prior to that the Louisburgh native was involved in Macra na Tuaithe in his home town where his early political allegiances were with Fianna Fáil, mostly due to local man Martin Joe O’Toole’s success as a Fianna Fáil politician. As a teenager Kilcoyne helped O’Toole put up his posters because that was the thing to do in Louisburgh in those days.
It wasn’t until the mid ‘80s that Kilcoyne joined Labour, a party which furthered the aims of working class people and related to the work he did with the union, representing workers. “I feel there was progress made in that area under Dick Spring,” Kilcoyne told the Mayo Advertiser.
But Castlebar’s new Mayor didn’t enjoy an easy ride early on in politics. He was first elected 10 years ago but had ran unsuccessfully three times before that.
Down but not out
The first time he ran in the late ‘70s he worked in Travenol. He ran as an independent but Fianna Fáil locally ran the late Phil Thornton to split his vote and neither of the two of them got elected. The following election Kilcoyne’s vote halved and then next time out he ran as a Labour candidate where he finished up in tenth position for the nine-seat council. Eventually in 1999 Kilcoyne tasted success when he ran for Labour for the second time and got elected without reaching the quota. But just five years later, as an independent, he headed the poll in the town, a position he retained again this time out.
Kilcoyne controversially split from Labour when the party decided to just run one candidate in the 2004 county council election. As an independent he was only 56 votes shy of being elected but it would have been to the detriment of his former party colleague Johnny Mee. “I would have been sorry that time if I had got the seat and Johnny Mee had lost out because I had great respect for Johnny Mee down the years. And even when there was an argument within the labour party over whether one or two candidates should be run for the county council myself and Johnny Mee remained friends.”
Whether Kilcoyne would ever return to the Labour party fold, he says he would never say no to anything. “I’m not good at taking direction from head office of the Labour party and if you are a member of a party you have to sign the party pledge that you will vote in favour of the party. The only people I take policy from is the people who vote for me. Nobody else. Sometimes you have to vote against the party if its in the best interest of the people,” he said.
And if a General Election was called would he run: “I suppose I’d have to look at that when the time comes depending on what caused it or when it was. Never rule anything in or out.”
For now Kilcoyne, who feels he has a very clear mandate from the people, will be focusing on local politics. His Saturday clinics at his office on Thomas Street have ensured that he is accessible to the public. “On average I have 15 people into me on a Saturday. Last Saturday was my first since I was elected to the County Council and I had 34 people.
You take power
Looking back he is proud of the housing schemes in An Shruthan and Saleen which the council administered. Estate take over is another contentious issue where there have been some improvements. But councillors need to use the powers available to them if change is to be enacted explains Kilcoyne: “At the end of the day councillors have some power. They complain they don’t have enough but they fail to use the powers they have. You take power. Its not given to you. You take it and represent the people and you’re supposed to be directing the executive and manager on what to do in terms of policy. The manager has a right to decide whether to give planning permission or not. But its the elected members who say you can give it in that area and here is how it must be and these are the conditions you must attach.”
Job creation will be Kilcoyne’s focus for the coming five years. “People have lost jobs, can’t pay their mortgage. What do you say to people like that. The council can lobby. If you have employers who take on an additional person or two, we should look at giving a rates remission or a rates or water credit in these cases or waiver the levies. I also think we have to became far more efficient in the way we do things. It’s really unacceptable that on a decision half a dozen people have to sign off. One person takes a decision that’s it. Accountability. Someone in the public service who never takes a decision, they are not going to be wrong and they will be there forever and that’s part of the problem.”
When it comes to councillors’ expenses Kilcoyne won’t be taking a reduction in the mayoral fee. “All of my life I have advocated that people are paid for their labour and that’s my view. If you have a person who is doing their work they are entitled to be paid and well paid. If they are not doing their work you are at a loss because they are not worth it. The fee from Mayo County Council is approximately €15,000 taxable per year. The town council is about €4,500 per year. That's taxable. Anyone who is on both town and county council will only get one fee – the fee for Mayo County Council. The Mayor's allowance is about €13,000 or €14,000 per year. For that you are expected to be all of the places you are supposed to be. If somebody has to be in all of these places they have to be paid because time is money. If people aren't doing their work it goes back to the electorate who elected them. I say to people you get the kind of government you elect and you get the kind of councils you elect.”
