Here are the Minutes of the December 2013 and January 2014 Town Council meetings. I have annotated them to show what happened, as there is a lot of denial of the true state of affairs. Page 1 of the December Minutes shows under Item 2, that a proposal by Tom Fortune was agreed: Following discussion on this matter it was agreed to invite Mr. JP Sisk and Mr. B. Sheehy from Sisk, Mr. S. Quirke, Wicklow County Council, Mr. J. O’Brien, Community Group and the five local TDs to the January meeting of the Town Council. It was also agreed to defer notices of motion at the January meeting in order to allow for full discussion on the harbour. It would seem to any average observer that the members really wanted to have this meeting in January. Then we turn to Page 2, under AOB. This makes clear that the question of the meeting was brought up again. The original version in the DRAFT minutes says: In relation to notices of motion and other business at the January meeting, it was agreed that if Sisk and Wicklow County Council officials were not attending to discuss the harbour development, then there was no point in inviting the TDs and Mr. J. O’Brien to the meeting. Such things do not bring themselves up. Some individual does so. In this case, it was Cllr Grainne McLoughlin. Several of those present, including Mayor Stephen Stokes, affirm that within seconds of proposer Tom Fortune leaving the meeting a few minutes early, she suggested, or expressed the assumption, that if Sisk and WCC officials were not attending to discuss the harbour development, there was no point in inviting the TDs and Mr. O’Brien. Ms McLoughlin later made a great to-do on Facebook and elsewhere denying that she had proposed that the meeting in Janury not go ahead if Sisk et al did not attend. She made great play of the terms motion and proposal, and indeed the Draft minutes were then amended at the January 2014 meeting to add in this sentence: No motion was proposed, initiated or agreed in this regard. This is confirmed under Item 1 of the January Minutes. Immediately following this, under Item 2, Tom Fortune proposed that the January meeting to which Sisk, WCC, five TDs and John OBrien were to have been invited should be rescheduled for February, without any proviso which would give any party a veto on whether or not the meeting would go ahead. The record is clear. The council voted AGAINST this: That representatives from Sisk and Wicklow County Council, together with the five local TDs and Mr. John O’Brien, be invited to the February meeting to discuss the harbour development and that if any of these parties were unavailable, that the meeting proceed with the others. As follows: FOR: Tom Fortune and Stephen Stokes AGAINST: Grainne McLoughlin, George Jones, Kathleen Kelleher, Chris Maloney, Billy Norman and James OSullivan ABSTAINED: Derek Mitchell To me it is incredible that they voted against having the meeting in February despite having earlier been disappointed that Sisk and WCC had not come to the January meeting! Following discussion during which the members expressed disappointment that representatives from Sisk and Wicklow County Council did not attend the meeting, the following proposals were made: I find it quite incredible that a councillor, Grainne McLoughlin, who first of all scuppered the chances of the January meeting with Sisk, WCC, TDs and John OBrien occurring by speaking up at the very end of the December meeting, and who then voted agaisnt inviting them all again, is publicly denying that she opposes the Community Plan. She says she supports it, but she votes against it. I would regard this kind of behaviour as entirely untrustworthy. It is baltantly saying that black is white, that the sun rises in the west, and that the earth is, after all, completely flat. How could anyone vote for this kind of politics? I hope very few will, come 23 May, but I know there will be some. To me, that is really a shame.
Posted on: Wed, 09 Apr 2014 17:31:57 +0000
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