Laois Fine Gael councillor breaks ranks and is backed by Sinn Féin

A Fine Gael Councillor broke ranks with her party in a bid for a position as Cathaoirleach of the Portarlington Graiguecullen Municipal District. 

Fine Gael’s Cllr Aisling Moran was proposed for the position of Municipal District Chairperson by Independent Cllr Ben Brennan and seconded by Sinn Fein Cllr Aidan Mullins at the Municipal District’s AGM.

She was proposed to run against Cllr Paschal McEvoy, who was nominated by outgoing Cathaoirleach Cllr Padraig Fleming of Fianna Fail and seconded by Fine Gael Cllr PJ Kelly.  

Cllr Fleming reminded Cllr Moran of a deal between FF and FG which she also opted out of in 2021 when she backed Cllr Brennan to become Leas Cathaoirleach of the district.

“We had an agreement with you and your party for the last three years and I am just wondering are you at the stage now are breaking away from that agreement?”

In response, Cllr Moran said she was “being constantly blocked by ye who are supposed to be in a pact with me.”

She claimed that all she was looking for was transparency in relation to the costs of projects and claimed that doing so has impacted the level of support that  Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are giving her.

“I was elected by the people of the Graiguecullen area to represent them as best I can and to ask the hard questions and try and change a broken system,” she remarked. 

 “The only support I am getting at the moment is from the technical group and I would like to thank them for all the support because without them I wouldn’t be able to do my job effectively, so that’s the reason Padraig.” 

Cllr Fleming wanted to know about the status of the deal that saw the two parties sharing power on Laois County Council.

“We entered into an agreement with your party for various positions over the last three years. Are you saying that has now ended? That cooperation,” he said.

He insisted that the agreement had yielded fantastic results in relation to different projects in the area.

However, Cllr Moran said: “When I am asking questions about transparency and accountability and health issues and all that stuff, that’s when you need the support of your group and they are not supporting me, so in that interest that is why I am going with the boys”. 

Cllr Ben Brennan accused Cllr Fleming of “dictating”.

“You are not here for nothing only power. That’s what you are fighting for today is power. It is the constituents that we look after, end of story,” he said.

Cllr Fleming insisted he was entitled to point out that Cllr Moran was going against a long standing agreement.

The votes for a new Cathaoirleach were tied with Cllr Moran, Cllr Mullins and Cllr Brennan backing Cllr Moran’s nomination and Cllr Fleming, Cllr Kelly and Cllr McEvoy backing Cllr McEvoy. In the end, two names were placed in a hat and Senior Executive Engineer Philip McVeigh selected the Cllr McEvoy, who was announced as the new Cathaoirleach of Portarlington Graiguecullen Municipal District. 

Cllr Moran said: “I would like to thank Aidan and Ben for proposing and seconding me and best of luck Paschal.” He was congratulated by other members at the meeting. Accepting the position, Cllr McEvoy said “I will be as fair as I possibly can.” 

Cllr Brennan was proposed for the position of Leas Cathaoirleach by Cllr Mullins and seconded by Cllr Moran and PJ Kelly was nominated by Cllr McEvoy and seconded by Cllr Fleming. Again, the position was tied and a name was pulled from a hat. Cllr Kelly’s name was drawn and he was elected Leas Cathaoirleach.

Fine Gael rivalry raises its head at Laois council as Cathoirleach loses out

It's the second occasion in a number of weeks an interparty agreement was strained by councillors vying for a position. There was tension as the Leas Cathaoirleach of the Borris-in-Ossory Mountmellick Municipal District was chosen earlier this month, when Cllr Conor Bergin lost out in a tied contest when Cllr John King's name was the first to be drawn from a hat.