Criticism of first Longford county council meeting by unsuccessful Sinn Féin candidate blasted as 'sour grapes'

Criticism of the first meeting of the new Longford County Council by an unsuccessful Sinn Féin candidate has been labelled as "unfair" by Cathaoirleach Cllr Mark Casey. 

James Donnelly, who ran for election in the Longford Municipal District and secured 401 first preference votes, was highly unimpressed with proceedings of the first monthly meeting of the new Council yesterday (Wednesday. July 10) and he took to X (formerly Twitter) to express his views.

He noted that not all councillors were in attendance, 8 of the 18 elected councillors didn't speak and multiple councillors were scrolling on their phones, with one accidentally playing a Facebook video while the meeting was in progress. 

The late start for the meeting, after Mr Donnelly said councillors had been standing around drinking tea and coffee was also criticised by the Sinn Féin candidate.

He also took issue with the length of the meeting. "36 minutes is all the newly elected councillors deemed was enough to speak on behalf of those who voted for them."

Longford County Council first meeting post election report

Not all Councillors in attendance. (2 absent from Longford MD with no explanation or apologies)

Started at 4.25pm. 25 Minutes late because
Councillors and staff standing around chatting and drinking tea/coffee.…

— James Donnelly (@JamesDonnellySF) July 10, 2024

However, Cllr Casey hit back, saying the comments were very unfair on the newly elected candidates. "Maybe it's a little bit of sour grapes because he didn't get elected," Cllr Casey suggested. 

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He said councillors had been working from earlier that day and as another meeting had run over time, they took a tea break before starting into the full meeting to "recharge". 

He explained that standing orders were suspended "to discuss a very important item that was brought up by Cllr Peggy Nolan". 

"We then proceeded on with the items that were on the agenda, and as it was the first meeting (since the local elections) the agenda was light. That wouldn't be the normal case," the Cathaoirleach said. 

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"All members were present. 16 were in the council chamber and two members joined from Teams (online)," Cllr Casey outlined. 

"It was a light first meeting introducing the new members into the council chamber, and I welcomed them all," Cllr Casey said. 

He said the first day was a long one and all the councillors, with several at meetings earlier that day, and were then back in on Thursday morning until 2pm for more training. 

"It's a lot of information - it's information overload actually for new councillors, to bring them up to speed as quickly as we can. For Mr Donnelly to come along and say they didn't speak at a meeting - for me that's just nuts," Cllr Casey said.

"He is trying to make an issue out of something that isn't an issue. These people got elected on their own merit. They were well able to speak at the doors going around and find out the issues around Longford. And they got elected, unlike other people," Cllr Casey said. 

"Maybe there's a little bit of sour grapes here, I don't know," the Cathaoirleach added. 

"If Mr Donnelly wants to change things - he needs to go and get elected," Cllr Casey said. 

Responding to previous comments from Mr Donnelly about it being the "same old, same old" made up predominantly from Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, the independent Cllr Casey noted several new faces are on the council. 

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"One third of our council has changed. It's absolutely fabulous for the lifeblood of a council to have one third of your members change. There are whole new ideas after coming in and a whole new generation of different councillors after coming in. There's a lot of new stuff that they will bring to the county. I welcome the new councillors. It's great to see. It's great for democracy," Cllr Casey said. 

He looked forward to an "action packed year" and said they are ahead of all other local councils with two €100 million projects going on. 

"If you want to benchmark Longford County Council against any other county that touches ours - feel free," he said. 

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36 minutes is all the newly elected councillors deemed was enough to speak on behalf of those who voted for them.

In comparison to the almost 3 hour long session Westmeath held.

I’m not surprised. https://t.co/Feu6p49bqB

— James Donnelly (@JamesDonnellySF) July 10, 2024