The chief executive of Mayo County Council, Peter Hynes, has confirmed that he will give a full report on the council's involvement in the recent Mayo Day event and TV broadcast in the coming weeks to the elected members.
Fine Gael whip Cllr Jarlath Munnelly had a motion before the May meeting of the council requesting that the chief executive give a detailed report on the recently held Mayo Day, including a breakdown of the costs of running the events.
Mr Hynes responded, saying: "Yes there will be a report, there was always going to a report. There will be an analysis of it, there will be learning, there are always things that we can do better. But the central message coming out from this is that it was a success, which far exceeded my expectations. I get feedback too and it was really very positive out there and it important that we build on that."
He also said: "I think this was the most successful event we have run in this county since 1993, when this county in the celebration of Mayo 5000 set the launchpad for Riverdance among other things.
There was widespread praise for the event from the members of the council, however Sinn Fein councillor Rose Conway Walsh said: "I have objections for it being used for one party and one party only in terms of interviews and discussions that were done. I think it's vitally important that everything that is done from here [Mayo County Council] and whatever part of the world it is in, that it's representative of the different political views that make up this chamber."
Mr Hynes responded: "To deal with the accusations that this was a political event, I'd like to put that to bed for a start, it wasn't. There were two speakers, one of whom is the Taoiseach of this country and the other was a Government minister. In my time in this council, anyone who serves at that level is regarded as being apolitical and above politics. The other speakers were myself and yourself [Cathoirleach Fianna Fáil Cllr Damien Ryan]. There were no party political allegiances at all. This was not a county council event, it was a county event, and the other interviews that were taped in the build up to the event will be broadcast in time."
