First City Council Meeting after the recent Local Elections. ====================================================
The first City Council Meeting will take place today at 6pm. The main items on the agenda will be the election of the new Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Galway City and appointments to the various committees.
In relation to the election of Mayor etc it seems the outcome is a foregone conclusion with the pact between 4 FG Councillors, 2 Labour Councillors and five independents, four of whom are actively involved with ex PD TD Noel Grealish, done and dusted. Nothing new in this way of working-in my 15 years as a local politician over four local elections this has been the method of allocation through simple majority vote. Indeed a more equal allocation of roles would require direction/legislation from government.
In the meantime what should be highlighted however is the result of this ‘Pact’ Over the next five years Galway City will see five male Mayors and five male Deputy Mayors. Significantly also the new and bigger City Council of 18 elected members has actually fewer female Councillors with 4 female Councillors out of 18 compared with 5 female Councillors out of 15 on the last Council.
Now that is a cause for reflection for the voters of the City who are of the opinion that they voted for change! The only possible surprise is whether the 3 FF Councillors will lick their wounds after their exclusion from the ‘Pact’ and re-join the Pact to exclude almost entirely from any allocated position the three Sinn Fein Councillors and myself, the only independent female Councillor (outside of ex PD Terry Flaherty)
