SO eager was one Fine Gael councillor to get back on the boards of the Council’s designated activity companies (DACs) that he couldn’t even afford to allow the Mayor to finish his sentence.
And at the same time, the same counillor continued to sing an Aretha Franklin mantra of “Respect! Respect! Respect!” when Mayor Moran did try to respond to his questions.
At December’s Met meeting, Cllr Dan McSweeney was in an awful hurry to know if there had been any correspondence from Minister James Browne in relation to elected members sitting on the DACs. A question, it appeared, he already knew the answer to.
“We’ve had serious governance issues in the DACs across the organisation. It’s been going on for 18 months,” he gesticulated towards the Mayor.
“If there has been instructions issued by the Minister, this chamber needs to know about them.”
Mayor Moran, who joined the meeting online, looked bewildered. In fairness to the man, respect is something he appears to have received little of so far as directly-elected Mayor.
The Mayor explained that he was planning to clarify a number of things with the Minister about how to go about appointing people before he moved further. This, after all, is his prerogative.
But McSweeney had heard enough and the claws were out with it.
“With all due respect, you spent 18 months seeking legal opinions, seeking clarifications from the Minister. You’ve now been told that the guidance document applies, and now you’re questioning the nomination process so maybe you might kill another 18 months trying to seek that clarification. This has gone beyond a joke,” he wailed.
“You’ve confirmed this morning that the elected members should be on the DACs because the code of good governance applies. Will you go and put the elected members on the DACs for the governance sake and not be going around seeking more clarity in relation to a nomination process? You’re presiding over poor governance of the DACs.”
Council Director General, Dr Pat Daly, told Council members that he had gotten the Minister’s the previous Friday and was waiting to speak to the Mayor on the matter.
Dr Daly also made it clear that he was seeking for the Minister’s recommendations to be “acted upon”.
– Local Democracy Reporting Scheme