carolyn.farrar@donegalonsunday.com
A surprise alliance among Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, Labour and a newly elected independent councillor came together to elect Fianna Fáil Clr Brendan Byrne mayor at the council’s annual general meeting (AGM) on Frid
ay.
Newly elected Fianna Fáil Clr Charlie McConalogue from Inishowen, in his first day on the council, was elected deputy mayor.
The unexpected grouping came together after a week of talks among the newly elected and returning councillors following the local elections on June 5. Earlier in the week there had been reports of the possibility of different combinations coming together, including a return of the Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael coalition and a pact could have been formed among the 19 non-Fianna Fáil councillors to freeze out Fianna Fáil.
At Friday’s meeting Fianna Fáil Clr Sean McEniff nominated Clr Byrne, a motion seconded by his party colleague, Clr David Alcorn.
In response, Fine Gael Clr Bernard McGuinness nominated his party colleague, Clr Terency Slowey for the mayor’s chair, a motion seconded by Fine Gael Clr John Boyle.
But the new alliance held, and Clr Byrne was elected by a vote of 17-12, the first of many votes taken on Friday that were decided by that margin.
The alliance includes the council’s 10 Fianna Fáil councillors, four Sinn Féin councillors, two Labour councillors and independent Clr Seamus Ó Domhnaill.
Calling it “a historic day,” the new 34-year-old mayor noted that he was the first person from Glencolumbkille to sit in the county mayor’s seat.
“I don’t know how it took the Glen people so long to get here,” Mayor Byrne said, drawing chuckles from the council chamber in Lifford. He thanked the alliance parties for their support, “particularly Sinn Féin and Labour.”
Mayor Byrne said the alliance represented “a new departure, a new outlook to politics in Donegal, and I’m glad to be part of that here today.”
He said the challenges facing the county mean that the council must now work together to address them. Mayor Byrne said that he heard on the doorsteps during the campaign that there is “an overwhelming desire for council to go back to basics,” such as roads, housing and sewerage works. “That is our responsibility in the five years ahead,” he said.
Among the mayor’s constituency priorities will be work on the N56 in Mountcharles, a section of road he said area residents have “real and grave concerns” about, the long-awaited fire station at Glencolumbkille and the Killybegs sewerage plan.
Clr McConalogue was nominated by Inishowen Clr Rena Donaghey and seconded by Clr Liam Blaney.
