Call for ‘common sense to prevail’ over Longford MD meeting times

The conflict about changing the time of the Longford Municipal District meeting continued to rumble on at last week's meeting of Longford County Council. The decision to have the meeting on Wednesday mornings was strongly criticised by Cllr Paul Ross (FG).

Cllr Ross told the meeting that on the FG side of the chamber, two members are teachers (Cllrs Gerry Hagan and Niall Gannon).
He said the decision to move the timing of the monthly Longford Municipal meeting from 4pm to 11am greatly inconveniences the two teachers on the FG side.

“The status quo remains and standing orders have not been changed. This affects the two councillors who cannot attend due to their day job. They are special needs teachers in their respective schools” Cllr Ross outlined.

“On this side of the house we feel it is an undemocratic decision, and a political attack on the Fine Gael members. We are asking for common sense to prevail,” he said.
Cllr Peggy Nolan backed up her party member saying: “When the chairperson took over in our Municipal District he said in his speech that we would play as a team. It is very difficult to play as a team when the captain is compromised,” and added, “I hope common sense will prevail.”

Cllr Gannon said if he takes time off work for the meeting there are two special needs students who are deprived of two hours of education. Cllr Gerry Hagan said the meetings were held at 3:00pm for the previous five years and this had worked well.
Cllr Mick Cahill said the plenary meeting was not an appropriate venue to raise the issue and it should be addressed at a Corporate Policy Group (CPG) meeting, saying “we should be a bit more adult”.

Cathaoirleach of Longford Municipal District, Cllr Seamus Butler (FF) said: “There are appropriate fora to address this issue. My door is always open for a private chat. There is an offer on the table. If we address that we can move forward.”
Cllr Butler concluded by saying: “I don't want to inconvenience any member of Longford MD, the time is in standing orders, but that does not mean it can't be changed.”
Cllr Ross said he felt that children were being “held to ransom”.