Fine Gael Cllr Barry O’Neill has angrily dismissed claims that he only sought consultation with independent councillor John Campbell after Fianna Faik’s Rena Donaghey had left the chamber due to her teaching commitments.
It has been suggested that O’Neill only opened negotiations with Cllr Campbell when Cllr Donaghey had left the chamber, knowing that if he was able to sway Cllr Campbell then they would have the sufficient support needed to pass the budget.
The vote was rushed through as Cllr Donaghey was driving back to the council chamber, with Campbell tying the vote 14-each – and Mayor McGarvey using his casting vote to pass the 2014 budget.
However Cllr O’Neill completely refuted those claims when he was contacted by Donegal Daily today and said he had been speaking to Cllr Campbell since Sunday evening.
“I contacted Cllr Campbell on Sunday evening at 7.30 to hear his proposals and I met with him again in Lifford at 10.30 am to discuss the outlines of his proposals further,” Cllr O’Neill claimed.
“I said to him before we ended that meeting that today would be a long day and that we’d meet again later.”
Text Message Across Chamber
“At twenty to 7 he contacted me via text to say he wanted to meet again, when the meeting adjourned for an hour between 7 and 8. We met and spoke for 45 minutes.
“There was a lot of discussion and thankfully we trashed out a deal that was in the best interests of the county.
“It’s complete nonsense for people to suggest that I only began discussions with Cllr Campbell during that adjournment, I had been in contact with him from the previous evening.
“I had more interaction with Cllr Campbell regarding the budget than I did with any member of the Fianna Fail party over the course of the four days.
“I’m delighted we got the budget passed in the end up and that common sense finally prevailed.”
O’Neill was also scathing of the leadership of the Fianna Fail party claiming their leadership has been brought into question and that the whole “fiasco” was “hugely embarrassing” for Donegal.
“I think the leadership of the Fianna Fail party has really been called into question, they’ve made Donegal a complete laughing stock across the country,” said the Fine Gael leader on the county council.
“I received a call from a colleague of mine in Cork and he just said what the hell was that all about?
“He said everybody outside of Donegal is laughing at us.
“It was so embarrassing and to have it broadcast on the national news and in other national media outlets hasn’t done Donegal any good at all.
“To be honest I think it will effect potential investors moving to Donegal.
“When they see that kind of nonsense from councillors up here they’d have every right to be sceptical about investing in businesses locally.”
Cllr O’Neill accepted fears from the other parties regarding the impending Irish Water charges saying that everybody is concerned about that issue, but reiterated that in the council chambers there is nothing they could do to effect legislation that has been passed at national level.
“Everybody is concerned about Irish Water, but we were there to speak about the budget, we as elected representatives of our area had a duty to pass the budget for our constituents that’s what were elected to do.
“It was laughable when the budget was finally passed, that Cllr Brogan stood up and said his party had been excluded from negotiations despite the fact we had been there for over 45 hours.”
Regarding the absence of Cllr Donaghey from the vote, O’Neill appreciated she had work commitments but said she and Fianna Fail took Cllr Campbell and the county for granted.
“We all have work commitments and I appreciate she was under pressure, but as she stated on Donegal Daily last night she left the chamber believing there was still sufficient numbers to defeat the budget,” he said.
“Fianna Fail took Cllr Campbell and Donegal for granted and it all blew up in their faces.
“They made a complete mess of it but unfortunately their behaviour has made Donegal a laughing stock and that is unforgivable.
“The only reason the IMF are in Ireland is due to the previous FF led government, everybody knew then once the IMF comes into a country they privatise everything.
“As I stated I’m just glad that common sense finally prevailed and that we still have a county council today.”