Independent councillor Frank Durcan warned the Fine Gael party that they will pay at the next election for becoming “the (John ) Gormleys of Mayo”, adding, “Let me not hear ye giving out about Green (party ) decisions when ye do the exact same as them”.
Cllr Durcan made his comments after Fine Gael councillor Eugene McCormack withdrew his support for a Section 140 motion before the council, after he was one of the five signatures on the original motion before the council. “It seems the Fine Gael party have abandoned the people of rural Ireland here,” Cllr Durcan said.
Cllr Durcan’s fellow Independent colleague, Cllr Michael Kilcoyne, said that the McCormack’s decision to withdraw his support was “unbelievable”.
The issue of the Section 140 motion arose out of the decision by Mayo County Council to refuse planning permission to Regina Duffy of Boyogonell, Parke, Castlebar. A Section 140 motion is a tool in the Local Government Act 2001 which, if passed, can see the elected members of the council order the county manager to overturn a decision made by the executive of the council. This was the first time such a motion had been brought before Mayo County Council.
The motion proposed by Cllr Durcan was seconded by Cllr Kilcoyne. Speaking to the Mayo Advertiser after the meeting, Cllr Kilcoyne said, “I don’t believe it was right for the motion to have been withdrawn from the council by the Cathaoirleach because the motion had been proposed and seconded before Cllr McCormack withdrew his support, therefore it was legitimately before the meeting”.
