Galway councillor under fire over qualifications call
A Galway County councillor who was accused of demeaning his colleagues by insisting they should have professional qualifications or training in planning before standing for office has refused to apologise for the offence he caused.
Councillor James Charity laid the blame for the flooding crisis partially at the door of elected representatives, who he said had allowed land on flood plains to be zoned for housing.
In this newspaper and in a debate on Galway Bay FM, the independent who is running in the next General Election said party affiliation and nepotism were the only qualifications that many politicians had rather than a degree of competency in planning or professional qualifications.
At the start of a special meeting to discuss the flooding across the county, Cllr Donagh Killilea – son of former MEP Mark Killilea – said he had been around politics all his life and the remarks were “very unusual”.
The Tuam Fianna Fáil representative urged the barrister to apologise for “dragging down the good office of becoming an elected councillor”.
“Not everyone has the benefit or the money to get a third level education or being called to the Bar. The majority of councillors here work hard,” he exclaimed.
“I’d ask you to come down a little bit from the pedestal you’re on.”
Cllr Frank Kearney (FG) also called on Cllr Charity to publicly withdraw the comments he made, which were “an insult” to his colleagues and all councillors before him.
“It’s very obvious Cllr Charity wants to back to a time when only the rich and the family of the gentry who could afford to get education be the only ones who served on the council,” he fumed.
See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.