Threat to remove councillors 'unacceptable', says De Burca

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Threat to remove councillors 'unacceptable', says De Burca

Sunday, June 24 2007

Green Party councillor, Deirdre de Burca, has responded to County Manager, Eddie Sheehy’s threat to “remove” three councillors from Wicklow County Council, by calling it “unacceptable”.

She says that the Manager has demanded that Cllr Nicky Kelly, Cllr pat Doran and Cllr Tommy Cullen immediately pay 60,000 euros each to cover the costs of a High Court case they lost, or face being removed from the council for a five-year period. Cllr de Burca has called into question the Manager’s reasons for acting in this way.

Cllr de Burca points out that the Manager chose to ignore the fact that the High Court ruling had been appealed by the councillors to the Supreme Court, and that it had not yet heard the case. “It is very clear that the case brought by the three councillors against Wicklow County Council was a public interest case” says de Burca. “A majority of councillors had passed a Section Four Motion several years ago directing the Manager not to grant planning permission for a Pet Crematorium in Redcross in South Wicklow. This was because the local community was bitterly opposed to it, and believed it would impact very negatively on farming, tourism, and public health in the area”.

The Green Party councillor says that the Acting Manager at the time, Hubert Fitzpatrick, had rejected the Section Four motion on the basis of advice form the council’s Law Agent and had given planning permission to the Pet Crematorium. “As councillors, we felt that our wishes and the wishes of the public were being completely ignored by the Acting Manager” says de Burca. “We nominated four councillors to seek independent legal advice and to act on our behalf. Unfortunately there was some confusion about the mandate they had been given. The new County Manager Eddie Sheehy took advantage of this confusion and asked the courts to hold the nominated councillors responsible for the legal costs of the action taken”.

De Burca says that Mr Sheehy has not enjoyed good relations with councillors since he took over a s County Manager of Wicklow County Council. She says that while he has improved somewhat in recent years, he seems to see most of the business of the council as a “battle for the upper hand” between councillors and the council management. “He seems to enjoy getting one over on councillors” she says, “especially councillors who challenge and criticise him such as Cllr Kelly and Cllr Cullen”.

“If the Manager succeeds in removing these three councillors from the council because they fail to pay the costs outstanding from the High Court, and before the Supreme Court appeal is heard, it will create a very worrying precedent for local councils across the country” she says. “Elected members have a responsibility to represent the people who elect them, and at times this means that they cannot fall in with decisions made by council management. The Manager can freely use the resources of the council to take legal actions against members of the public, and to defend the council against the public’s legal actions” she says. “But councillors must also have the right to legally challenge the actions of council management in exceptional cases where they believe the public interest is not being served, and to do so without being personally exposed to considerable legal costs”.

The Green Party councillor says that if the Manager succeeds in removing the three councillors from the council, he will have created a worrying precedent for councils around the country where no councillor will attempt to legally challenge the decisions or actions of the Manager without running the risk of exposing themselves to serious legal costs. “This is not acceptable in circumstances where councillors clearly act in the public interest” says de Burca.” I intend to lobby Minister Gormley to ask him to address this issue in the programme of Local Government Reform that he initiates during his term as Minister for the Environment and Local Government”.

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