Councillor apologises for use of 'n' word during meeting
A Galway City councillor has been forced to apologise after using the ‘n’ word in the course of a meeting of the local authority this evening.
Independent councillor Declan McDonnell, during a discussion of a proposed coastal protection scheme from Sailín to Silverstrand – which Cllr McDonnell claimed was being obstructed by the Department of Climate Action and Environment – said the Department was the “n****r in the woodpile”.
Cllr Ollie Crowe (FF) immediately sought that the remarks be withdrawn, a request that Mayor Mike Cubbard (Ind) reiterated. Cllr McDonnell then withdrew the comment.
Speaking to the Galway City Tribune after the meeting, Cllr McDonnell apologised for using the term and said it “wasn’t meant in the context it was picked up”.
“It is a saying that was used years ago. It wasn’t meant in any disrespectful way.
“I didn’t mean to offend anyone. I withdrew the comment straight away when I was asked,” said Cllr McDonnell.
“I made a mistake in the language I used and I apologised and withdrew it straight away.
“I do apologise. I used the wrong phrase in the heat of the moment about a [government] department that has upset a lot of people in Galway,” he said, adding that it had obstructed the progression of the Galway City Ring Road and a number of other significant infrastructural projects.
“It was never intended as an insult to any race.”