The Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Éamon Ó Cuív has asked the delegation from Mayo County Council who will be giving a presentation to the members of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment and Local Government next week to meet with him. Fianna Fáil Cllr Al McDonnell revealed the news to a special meeting of the council this week while discussing the presentation the delegation will make to the committee. Cllr McDonnell told the meeting that “just a few minutes ago Minister Éamon Ó Cuiv asked that that members of our delegation meet with him as soon as we are finished giving our presentation to the joint committee”. He continued saying that “he has been a good friend to Mayo, while we have been trying to develop the county there were others trying to stop us.”
The news that Minister Ó’Cuív had asked to meet the delegation was welcomed by the council members who vented their anger over the course of an hour and half of debate at the way that their responsibilities as the elected representatives of the people was being downgraded by the Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government John Gormley.
The meeting was addressed at the beginning by Michael Browne, solicitor for the council, in relation to the second legal opinion sought by the members on any possible legal recourse they may take in relation to the variations to the development plan ordered by Minister Gormley. Mr Browne told the members that the second legal opinion substantiated what he had said before in relation to the fact that the Minister is well within his rights to administer the directive as he did and it must be implemented by the planning staff. He concluded by saying, “my view is that all the legal avenues have been explored by the council and the members have an number of other avenues to explore that are open to them.”
Fine Gael whip Cllr Paddy McGuinness and Cllr McDonnell on the other side of the house has been the parties leading people on the issue. Cllr McGuinness, while accepting that all legal avenues were now closed to the council, was still forthright in his defence of the plan which all 31 councillors backed last May.
“There is nothing wrong with the council getting a second legal opinion,” he said. “We said we would do everything we can to get this plan accepted and the legal means have now been closed. But the people should also know that this opinion also raised a number of concerns they should be aware of. The opinion states that we live in a democracy, but it outlines that the Minister can hold any view he wants in relation to this plan and not have to defend it in anyway by law. You wouldn’t have it in a banana republic. He is unilaterally saying that the people in Mayo are not compiling with the act in anyway and isn’t giving any reason for it.”
