One of the recommendations made in the Mahon Report, which is more then likely going to be over looked as most of the media will be looking at the findings against former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and others, is that Regional Authorities be directly elected. The Tribunal is making this decision due to the role that the Regional Authorities play in Regional Planning Guidelines (RPGs) which has an impact on Local Devlopment Plans and other decisions made by local authorities. There...
Willie Penrose TD and Minister of State at Department of Environment, Community & Local Government with responsibility for Housing & Planning has resigned from the Cabinet and from the Labour Party. Penrose was a Super Junior Minister meaning he was entitled to attend all Cabinet meetings. He has resigned over the issue of the closure of Columb Barracks in Mullingar which is within his constituency. He has issued this statement (from Politics.ie ) It was regret that I tendered my...
Sinn Fein City Councillors have placed a motion before Cork City Council calling for a debate on the Queens Visit to Cork. The motion reads “This Council does not endorse the invitation extended by An tArd Mhéara to the English Queen to visit Cork”. I expect that the motion will fail. According to Cllr Mick Nugent “The actions of the Lord Mayor in extending this invitation without informing the council and allowing its members an opportunity to object were...
The news broke this morning of the death of North Side Cllr David McCarthy. He was suffering from cancer and died this morning. He was first elected in 1985. In 1997 he held the office of Lord Mayor of Cork. In 1999 he topped the poll for Fianna Fail with 933 votes and in 2004 he increased his vote to 1,112 votes. In 2007 his stood as an independent candidate in the Dáil election gaining a respectable 2,492 votes....
Image via Wikipedia The Evening Echo* did a Freedom of Information on the amount claimed by Councillors on Cork City Council to attend conferences since they were elected. The expenses over the last 15 months are: Kenneth O’Flynn (FF) €14,333.86 Denis O’Flynn (Lab) €13,546.24 Sean Martin (FF) €12,418.20 Michael Ahern (Lab) €11,467.09 Pat Gosch (FG) € 8,889.10 Tim Brosnan (FF) €8,786.78 Terry Shannon (FF) €8,742.72 Michael O’Connell (Lab) €8,518.03 Brian Birmingham (FG) €8,168.55 Mary Shields (FF) €8,101.50 Dara Murphy...
Image via Wikipedia So what do three of the above have in common at the moment? To me they represent why Fianna Fail is no longer fit to govern. O’Dea lied under oath, and was forced to resign. Coughlan thinks young people emigrate for fun and theres the whole Hanger 6 debacle Ahern was cheerleader in chief for O’Dea and he is the Justice Minister! This government is beyond itself. It is out of ideas. It has no idea...
Image by mugley via Flickr What a year! 2009 is approaching its end and its been and up and down year for me. Blogging What a year for me and blogging! It started off great being selected for the first Th!nk about it competition and then that led to other cool projects, again involving European Journalism Centre and the Anna Lindh Foundation. I of course moved the blog .com and its bein great doing that. I have gotten involved...
Limerick County Council is now under control of a Fine Gael majority. What is one of the amazing things about the elections in Limerick County is that nearly every single on of the Fine Gael Candidates were eleceted in five electoral areas. Fine Gael now have 15 seats on the council up from 12 seats gaining all three seats from Fianna Fail who now have nine seat. Labour have two seats and Others have two seats, giving Fine Gael...
Fianna Fail’s representation on Cork City council was almost havled in Fridays Local Elections. They are going from the 11 seats that they won in 2004 to 6 seats this time round. The loss of a seat in North West was a forgone conclusion as Dave McCarthy who was elected as a Fianna Fail Cllr turned Independent and was easily re-elected. In fact topping the poll with 200 votes over quota. Tony Fitzgerald hung on to his seat at...
I attended the majority of the count for the 6 city wards in Cork on Saturday evening and night. The Fine Gael result on the south side was excellent! With us gaining a seat in the South East ward of the city. Unfortunately while the Fine Gael vote was up on the Northside aswell, Joe O’Callaghan lost the seat in the North West which was previously held by Colm Burke. North West went from a 5 seater to a...
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