Tension in Council Chamber, as the names of councillors who entered draw to attend USA are revealed
Last month, during the march Plenary meeting of Waterford Council, a shouting match erupted between councillors in City Hall regarding the Council’s St. Patrick’s Day trip to Boston.
During the meeting, Cllr Lola O’Sullivan (FG) challenged Cllr John Hearne (SF) over a social media post he made which claimed that the council would be spending €50,000 to attend the Boston parade.
Official figures which were revealed last week from the Council revealed that €18,000 was the actual spend of the trip.
In light of the figures, Cllr Lola O’Sullivan said at this month’s Plenary meeting, held in Dungarvan last week, that Cllr Hearne’s post was “fake news.”
Meanwhile, at last month’s Plenary meeting, Cllr Jason Murphy labelled Sinn Féin’s stance on the Council’s foreign trips as hypocritical.
Cllr Murphy said: “I think it’s right that we point out the hypocrisy of Sinn Féin in this chamber on this issue.
“Let me assure you that Sinn Féin have been in every lottery to go on every foreign trip.
“If they have principled opposition to this, maybe they should show some principle and not enter the draw.”
Speaking to WLR after this same meeting, Sinn Fein councillor Joeanne Bailey said that no Sinn Féin councillors put their name forward for the Boston trip.
It was revealed at this month’s meeting the names of the 15 councillors who entered the draw to attend Boston. Revealing the names was questioned by Independent councillor Joe O’Riordan, who claimed that it would be an infringement of GDPR.
The councillors who entered the draw to attend Boston were: Joe Kelly (Ind), John O’Leary (FF), Pat Nugent (FG), Kate O’Mahoney (SF), Declan Barry (Ind), John Pratt (Lab), Joe O’Riordan (Ind), Declan Clune (Ind), Lola O’Sullivan (FG), Frank Quinlan (FG), Adam Wyse (FF), Niamh O’Donovan (FG), Thomas Phelan (Lab), Blaise Hannigan (Ind) and Jason Murphy (FF).
The two names which were picked from the draw were Cllr Joe Kelly and Cllr Adam Wyse.
