Conneely row escalates as he refuses to accept expulsion
Date Published: {J}
THE bitter row between Cllr Padraig Conneely and officials of the City Council escalated further last evening when the controversial Fine Gael councillor refused to abide by an expulsion order passed against him at the meeting.
The meeting, chaired by Cllr Brian Walsh – in the absence of Mayor Michael Crowe – ended in chaos after councillors had voted by 10 votes to 3, to expel Cllr Conneely from the Council Chamber.
Labour councillor Bill Cameron proposed the expulsion of Cllr Conneely from the Council Chamber and after the motion was seconded by Fianna Fáil’s Peter Keane, it was passed by 10 votes to 3, with even two of Cllr Conneely’s own Fine Gael party colleagues voting in favour.
Councillors Billy Cameron (Lab), Tom Costello (Lab), Ollie Crowe (FF), Peter Keane (FF), Donal Lyons (Ind), Niall McNelis (Lab), Derek Nolan (Lab), Hildegarde Naughton (FG), Terry O’Flaherty (Ind) and acting mayor, Brian Walsh (FG), all voted in favour of expelling Cllr Conneely from the meeting.
The motion was opposed by Cllr Conneely (FG), Cllr Colette Connolly (Lab) and Cllr Catherine Connolly (Lab).
However after the vote, Cllr Conneely said that he had no intention of leaving the meeting or being silenced – this followed several attempts to discuss an item on the agenda dealing with the Ballinfoile Neighbourhood Watch Centre.
Cllr Colette Connolly subsequently proposed a motion that a meeting take place today (Tuesday) between Cllr Conneely and the City Council officials with a view to resolving the dispute, which would then allow last night’s meeting to proceed in full.
This motion was passed, but only after Cllr Conneely had been officially expelled from the Chamber following heated exchanges that raged between the start of the meeting at 4pm and its adjournment shortly before 4.45.
Cllr Billy Cameron said that the issue between Cllr Conneely and the officials should be dealt with outside of the Council chamber.“I want to see business being dealt with by this Council – there is urgent business to be seen to and the public want us to get on with it,” said Cllr Cameron.