Independent councillor Frank Durcan has said that he will raise an issue in the Dáil that he was unable to raise in Mayo County Council after he was “muzzled” by the council.
Cathaoirleach of Mayo County Council Damien Ryan told Cllr Durcan that he could not let him read out a notice of motion that Cllr Durcan had submitted for the meeting, but was not included on the agenda on foot of legal advice he had received.
Cllr Durcan responded saying: “I might be muzzled in here” before going on to say, “If I can’t raise it here, I’ll have it raised in the Dáil.”
While Cllr Durcan did not attempt to read out his motion at the meeting he did say that it was in connection with a person who got a high paying job in the council without doing an interview.
He also said: “I’ve been told lies by the freedom of information officer, but he can only give me the information that the officials give him.”
Cllr Durcan, who has had a number of clashes with the council executive over a number of issues, also said: “We no longer live in a democracy in this council, for democracy to reign there needs to be no lies told to anyone, especially an elected representative.”
Meetings administrator John Condon told the meeting: “There were three parts to the motion, we had no problem with the first two parts, the third part of the motion we did, because it could damage an employee and leave the council open to litigation. I informed the councillor this and I invited the councillor to resubmit the motion that was causing the problem without it.”
