Independent Castlebar town councillor Frank Durcan walked out at the start of a special meeting of the local authority after no prayer was said out loud this week. Only a matter of weeks ago at the May monthly meeting of the local authority, the members voted on a number of protocol issues for the council, one of those included the saying of a prayer before the meeting. At the May meeting the saying of either a Hail Mary or Our Father along with a Glory Be to the Father was passed by four votes to three in the chamber and the protocol arrangements were then passed fully at the ordinary June monthly meeting of the council.
At the start of this week’s special meeting, Mayor Ger Deere asked for the members to remember all those in the locality who had died recently before the members present held a moment of silence. Cllr Durcan then raised the issue of no prayer being said by the members, pointing out that a vote had been taken on it at the May meeting and was ratified at the June one, before he left the chamber as the meeting began its business.
Speaking to the Mayo Advertiser after the meeting Cllr Durcan said: “I feel very strongly about this, it’s a tradition since the start of the council. This was formally ratified at the June meeting of the council when the protocols were approved.” When asked what he would do if at the next meeting of the council the prayer was not said, Cllr Durcan replied: “I’ll leave again if it happens, I’ve had no explanation since as to why it didn’t happen after it was ratified.”
