A Fine Gael member of Sligo County Council says she is concerned that a pact, or agreement, among a block of councillors covers the selection of councillors for various positions and roles . . . but gives those councillors free rein when it comes to how they will vote on budgets.
The pact — among Fianna Fail, Sinn Fein, People Before Profit, and some Independent councillors — has resulted in Fine Gael being largely frozen out of various positions, despite doubling the number of their Sligo councillors from three to six in the local elections.
One of those councillors, Sinead Maguire, who is her party’s candidate for the Dail in Sligo/Leitrim, says budgets are essential.
Despite criticism from some quarters of Cllr Maguire’s own performance in the local elections, she insists she and her party did very well in Sligo.
There was also surprise that Cllr Maguire was not present for the recent annual general meeting of the county council, at which party councillors support each other in sharing out positions on various committees, bodies and groups.
But she says that meeting clashed with a long-arranged family trip.
