Labour admits challenging Cork council co-option process

The Labour Party has confirmed that it is the ‘interested party’ which has challenged the co-option process to fill a vacant seat on Cork City Council.

A party spokesperson confirmed yesterday that it wrote to council chief executive, Ann Doherty, last Thursday questioning the validity of the process being pursued by the Anti Austerity Alliance/People Before Profit which has nominated Fiona Ryan to fill former AAA Cllr Mick Barry’s council seat following his election to the Dáil.

The party spokesman said it is “seeking clarification” on certain issues governing how such co-options should be dealt with under specific parts of Section 19 of the Local Government Act 2001.

Section 19-3A deals with casual vacancies which arise following the election of a councillor to the Dáil and sets out how a vacant council seat should be filled by a person nominated by the same registered political party which nominated the person vacating the council seat.

In this case, Mr Barry won the council seat while a member of the AAA. But it was deregistered as a political party following its merger last August with People Before Profit.

The Labour Party has sought clarification as to whether this casual vacancy should in fact be dealt with under Section 19-3B of the Local Government Act, as it relates to independent candidates.

This section says such casual vacancies should be filled following the council’s own standing orders which in this case would see Mr Barry’s seat going to the next placed candidate in the 2014 local elections — former Labour Lord Mayor Catherine Clancy.

She was not available for comment yesterday.