Vote results in Cork council's 'mean-spirited' refusal to send well wishes to Eamon Ryan

One councillor said: 'I’m amazed that my colleagues would suggest that we write to him to compliment or congratulate him.'

Carrigaline councillor Jack White of Fine Gael described Minister Ryan (pictured) as a 'politician of huge conviction and courage'. File picture: Evan Treacy/PA

In what one councillor described as a "mean-spirited" move, members of Cork County Council took the rare if not unprecedented step of denying their ‘well wishes’ to the departing Green Party leader, Eamon Ryan, following a roll call vote at the authority’s first meeting after its AGM on Monday. 

The proposal from Fianna Fáil councillor and former Mayor, Gillian Coughlan, prompted a debate in which the leader of one of the three Government parties was criticised by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael councillors as well as elected members from Independent Ireland and non-party councillor Finbarr Harrington.