Parties attacked over council seat ‘insult’

INDEPENDENT TD Catherine Murphy yesterday accused Fianna Fáil and Labour of insulting her mandate by ignoring her recommendations to fill the vacancies caused in Co Kildare as a result of her recent election to the Dáil.

Ms Murphy held two local authority seats in Kildare; one on the county council and the other on Leixlip Town Council.

However, two nights ago, a member of Fianna Fáil, Kevin O’Connor, was co-opted onto Leixlip Town Council with the support of Labour.

Meanwhile, the Labour Party in County Kildare confirmed that it will be nominating Colm Purcell to fill the vacancy on the county council.

There are indications that Mr Purcell’s nomination may be supported by the 10 FF councillors.

Ms Murphy yesterday said she had nominated two candidates to replace her on both councils but it seemed that FF and Labour were not prepared to respect her mandate.

She pointed out that all independent TDs and senators who vacated local authority seats upon the abolition of the dual mandate nominated replacements.

“This is an insult to the thousands of people who voted for me,” Ms Murphy said yesterday.

“It is anti-democratic. Fianna Fáil and Labour should be ashamed of themselves. There’s a disregard for the public and for democracy.

“The party comes first. That is why people are turning to independents in increasing numbers.”

However, John McGinley, the Labour leader on Kildare County Council, yesterday responded by saying that Ms Murphy was well aware of the council’s standing orders.

“The wishes of the people have to be respected,” said Mr McGinley.

“In the local authority elections, the person whom Ms Murphy has nominated got 91 votes (in the Leixlip electoral area) while the person who was runner-up received 1,700.

“That person was Colm Murphy and I would think that the rest of the council would take that result into account.”

Mr McGinley said there was no formal deal or pact with Fianna Fáil but that he hoped that the party would reciprocate the support of Labour for Mr O’Connor in Leixlip.

Under the provisions of the Local Government Act, a registered political party whose member is vacating their seat can replace it with its own nominee.

However, a vacancy caused by the resignation of a non-party councillor is subject to standing orders agreed by the council.

In some local authority areas, a formula has been established allowing non-party members to nominate their own replacement. However, no such formula exists under the current standing orders in Co Kildare.