Search Results for 'Margaret Adams'

There’s no area in Mayo that can be easily called as to where the seats will be divided out in next week’s local elections, but the new West Mayo area is probably the hardest. The re-drawing of the boundaries last year has seen the old Westport and Belmullet areas thrown together into one giant swathe of land that stretches right from the northern tip of the county right down the west coast to the Galway border. Currently there are eight councillors sitting in the two areas and this time out there are only seven seats up for grabs in the new giant district.

There were clear dividing lines drawn in the Mayo County Council on Monday afternoon when a controversial draft policy on ‘Community Benefit Contributions for Certain Major Developments’ was passed, by a vote of 26-6. Excepting Fine Gael where all councillors support the motion, the two other political parties in the council split on the vote, with Sinn Féin’s Rose Conway-Walsh, Fianna Fáil trio of Al McDonnell, Blackie Gavin, and Damien Ryan, and Independent councillors Michael Kilcoyne, Richard Finn, and Michael Holmes all voting for it. Voting against the motion were Fianna Fáil’s Margaret Adams, Jimmy Maloney, and Annie May Reape alongside Sinn Féin’s Gerry Murray and independents Gerry Ginty and Seamus Weir. Cllr Frank Durcan was absent from the meeting. Both Cllr Murray and Cllr Weir led the charge against the proposals at the meeting and both councillors ended up in heated side-debates with other councillors while the topic was being discussed.

The marked gender imbalance on Mayo County Council looks unlikely to be addressed in a significant way in the upcoming Local Elections on May 23.

Westport Town Council's Cllr Brendan Mulroy has called for the resignation of embattled environment Minister Phil Hogan.

A cross-party delegation from Westport Town Council were in Strasbourg this week to attend the 25th Congress of Local and Regional Authorities. Fine Gael’s Cllr Myles Staunton, Fianna Fáil Cllr Margaret Adams, and Labour Cllr Keith Martin attended the congress to continue the council’s lobbying for the retention of town councils which are due to be abolished when their current term ends next summer. While the councillors were in Strasbourg the monitoring committee of the Council of Europe published a report on local democracy in Ireland from its monitoring committee, which called on the Irish Government to ensure the subsidiarity principle is better enshrined and protected.

Westport electoral area councillors stated at their meeting on Monday that the weeds, bushes, and hedge growth which is on the verge of roads need to be dealt with immediately as it is making driving on roads dangerous.

New Cathaoirleach

Achill based sculptor Ronan Halpin’s piece The Sentinel has been selected as the winning sculpture to mark and celebrate The Irish Times Best place to live in Ireland award won by Westport in 2012.

Fianna Fáil town councillor Brendan Mulroy wants it to be an offence for anyone to walk on the roads without wearing a high-visability vest.