THE SUNDAY BUSINESS POST n101 News Focus AUGUST 18 2013 BEHIND THE SCENES: inside the worlds of business, sport, politics and entertainment County councillors

Johnny Healy-Rae, centre, pictured with his father Danny, right, and uncle Michael, Marianne Butler of the Greens in Dundalk NEWSFILE left, at the Kilgarvan Show DON MACMONAGLE Walking the

Ireland’s county councillors are often caricatured as parish-pump pragmatists, sometimes fairly, sometimes not. But a huge new shake-up of local government is set to turn their world upside down. In a special report, Siobha´n Brett meets several prominent councillors and asks whether they and their colleagues are ready for what’s coming

he most fundamental low buy-ins, resulting in ‘‘permanent changes in local gov- council tenants’’. Ambulance services are ernment in the history also now centralised out of Dublin, caus- of the state.’’ That was ing problems for constituents. Medical how environment min- cards are being checked out and recalled. ister Phil Hogan de- Siobha´n Brett The list is long.Educationgrants used to scribed‘T his proposed changes to Ireland’s be processed above the county council of- system of local government last year. fices; no more. Schools with fewer than 80 It was one of many claims made by Ho- pupils are under fire.The local Garda bar- gan.The political reforms, he announced, their small hands. racks is gone. Roads in the area aren’t would variously emphasise ‘‘accountabil- But Healy-Rae,who works in plant hire being maintained, constituents say, mean- ity as the bedrock of a functioning system (and tells how he is sometimes forced to ing that work they have overseen for years of local democracy’’, enable ‘‘pursuit of make trips by night to the Red Cow round- is being undone.Cul-de-sacs do not quali- the efficiency agenda’’ and yield savings about for parts that can’t be sourced in fy for roads programmes, which also gets for the exchequer of some e420 million. Kerry ^ ‘‘Try using the internet down to them. The shake-up is about to begin. here!’’), recently took a phone call from a ‘‘People appreciate the last half-mile of Next year, Ireland’s disparate array of friend in Australia who counted 26 people road to their house,’’ Healy-Rae says with 114 local authorities will be replaced by 31 from the Killorglin electoral area in a sin- fervour. ‘‘It’s very hard to explain to people city and county councils.This will involve a gle bar in Sydney. ‘‘I couldn’t count 26 that they will have to foot 20 per cent of substantial thinning out in some parts of people in a pub here of a Saturday night,’’ e50,000 when they’re paying every kind the country,but an increase in others, such he says sadly. ‘‘We’ve been badly hit by of taxand, in some cases, are being told as Dublin, which has been the subject of emigration.’’ that’s what the taxis for.’’ some criticism regionally. He intends to fund his local election The government summary of Putting Supporters of reform say that a well- campaign from his own pocket next year. People First says there will be ‘‘delegation oiled local authority structure can trans- ‘‘It’s competitive,’’ he says. ‘‘ of greater responsibility in certain existing form the quality of life for communities, once won a seat by four votes here. My local authority functions inthe areas of en- reinvigorate democracy, and ^ by creating vironment, water, foreshore, community linkages between local taxes and services development, roads, housing and energy ^ impose reality on seemingly corrosive efficiency’’, with more power devolved to Rebecca Moynihan of Labour meets residents of Fatima Mansions in Dublin 8 demands. ‘There was never a local level, ‘‘closest to the people’’. How- Its detractors, meanwhile, say that a re- ever, Danny Healy-Rae, Johnny’s father ^ duction in the numbers of councillors will poor day.Things also a councillor ^ says that the opposite the most creative people in Irish life (this undermines the councillor’s ability to do is true. He sits in on the bench beside his happened last month); like the kind of per- the job they were elected to do. were always getting son, almost under his arm. son who would maintain a snappyTwitter But what effect is this likely to have on ‘‘IrishWater is a ploy by government to account, frequent the music festival circuit local government overall? For the past help the case to take water out of the Shan- and fashion her own skirts. few weeks, I’ve been trying to find out. I better, going up. non,’’ he says. ‘‘We have always had our But a councillor is what she is; a Labour have travelled the country,peering behind ownwater supplies, reservoirs and intakes. politician in Dublin’s South West inner the scenes in the idiosyncratic world of There was no such Now they want it under one umbrella to city.It is a demanding area.Althoughthere county councillors. Change is coming. sell to international companies.Tothink,’’ are many issues vying for Moynihan’s Are they ready for it? thing as anything he gasps, ‘‘that every pipe we laid through time, she has begun to prioritise a cam- every town over 90 years would be taken paign to build a park on a derelict site on going down’ away from us.’’ Chamber Street in Dublin 8. The site has ‘We’re being cut The Healy-Raes are unhappy at not been signed over by the housing section in down’ knowing who is in charge. ‘‘They’re erod- to the economic de- ing our resources as well as our powers,’’ velopment department. It’s a case of park ’Reilly’s field, home to the Kil- Danny Healy-Rae continues. ‘‘There’s a or property. garvan Agricultural Show in divide appearing between Dublin and the ‘‘Dublin South Central has 14 hectares Co Kerry, is devoid of political east and funding in the west. We’re being of green space to our one ^ one single hec- O trappings ^ with the exception grandfather won his seat by 200 votes.’’ cut down here in Kerry, but they’re in- tare,’’ Moynihan says incredulously, as we of Michael Healy-Rae’s flat cap hovering Despite Healy-Rae’s independent can- creasing the amount of urban councillors drive past Oscar Square Park, which con- amid the crowds. Instead, it is filled with didacy,the family name has Fianna Fa¤ il le- up in Finglas.What’s going on?’’ tributes significantly to that hectare. As livestock, groomed dogs, tents housing gacy with some staying power. A third- the name suggests, it’s less of a park, more award-winning tarts, vegetables and fowl, generation public representative, Healy- of a square. It’s empty, but gangs of chil- pints, ponies, rosettes and trophies. Rae admits he finds the stubborn nature ‘It’s heavy on spin’ Barry Cowen: ‘unnerved’ by the new boundary changes PHOTOCALL dren cavort around the railings on bikes ‘‘Finian McGrath says it takes him 30 or of the partisan association ‘‘bizarre’’. and scooters. Moynihan has read up on 40 minutes to walk across his electoral ‘‘Yes, my grandfather was a Fianna Fa¤ il utting PR First’ was the the effect of parks on economic activity, area,’’ Johnny Healy-Rae says, drumming man, all his life, until 1997. He was there witty rejoinder that head- on the eventual increase in house prices the picnic bench we’re sitting at with his for the by-elections with the Blaneys. He lined Fianna Fa¤ il TD Barry tion of the state, suffered from duplication resulting and the wholesale knock-on. fingers. ‘‘For me to get to Inch Island, hard was a Haughey man. But I vote with my ‘P Cowen’s press release fol- ‘This legislation ^ 200 of the 1,600 council seats currently ‘‘The physical space becomes more driving, no stops, it would take an hour heart and my head,’’ he says. lowing the release of Hogan’s reform blue- in existence are both town and country pleasurable to negotiate, to be in. I think and a half.’’ ‘‘I’m aligned to no party, but the Fine print, Putting People First, last year. is an extension of council seats. and hope it [the proposal for the park] will The 27-year-old independent council- Gael gang will accuse us of being Fianna ‘‘The plan is heavy on rhetoric, it’s hea- ‘‘Getting rid of the scenario existing un- succeed.The council wants to sell it on for lor’s local electoral area is among the lar- Fa¤ il.The Fianna Fa¤ il lads don’t like us any vy on spin,’’ the Fianna Fa¤ il spokesman the government’s til the end of the dual mandate,whereTDs housing, but I reckon that would only get gest and most sparsely populated in the more.It has come uptime and time again ^ tells me. ‘‘It’s about cuts, not about reform. would be members of local authorities and e4 million, as a site,’’ she says, matter-of- country. He says some urban councillors whether we’d return ^ but we don’t take It disenfranchises councillors and centra- town and county councils, was a good factly. ‘‘We already have a surfeit of hous- could call to 160 houses in an evening.That decisions lightly.’’ lises power with the unelected. Also, show attitude to reform: idea,’’says Murphy,a memberof the Local ing in Dublin 8. Plus, they probably would take him two days. He pauses to speak with a passer-by. me legislation that gives effect to these Electoral Area Boundary Committee wouldn’t get development permission for ‘‘No place is left out,’’ he says. ‘‘That’s Healy-Rae is at his complete ease; Kilgar- changes. It has proven to be an extension populist in the which delivered a report to Hogan’s de- ten years.’’ important. We have emails and stuff, but van is home, and he was reared in the fa- of the government’s attitude to reform: po- partment earlier this year. Some residents are opposed to her plan. meeting people is better.’’ mily pub in the village, just across the pulist in the extreme. It has no teeth. extreme. It has ‘‘The boundary changes next year ‘‘You’ll always get people who’ll be against Healy-Rae was so young at his first road. Sporting a zipped-up GAA jacket ‘‘It took a lot of political pressure to should strengthen the relationship be- things.These allotments’’ ^ she gestures to meetings of Kerry County Council and over a lilac shirt, he speaks with care in a make sure that 80 per cent of the local no teeth’ tween local councillor and citizen. Politi- a cluster of patches to our left as we drive ^ the Southern Health Board that he can re- powerful, billowing Kerry accent. His property taxwent to local areas. Nothing cal representatives in the Da¤ il had been ‘‘they were against them as well. They member standing between the legs of his turn of phrase is endearing,also ofa place: has been done about commercial rates, de- overly focused on local issues which went ahead in 2010. If I get the park, I grandfather, Jackie. He has been canvas- ‘‘Politics have such a battering got in re- spite the continuing demise of rural towns should have been in the realm of county may not be elected again, but I’d be happy sing since he was in school. In a relatively cent times,’’ he says at one point, ‘‘deserv- and town centres. The biggest shame of in a debate sometimes marred by political and city councillors,’’ he says. ‘‘I feel very to have achieved that.’’ short political life, he has witnessed stark edly so, in some cases.’’ this government is in the area of local gov- potshots and parochial resistance to strongly about that. Weturn into StTeresa’s Gardens on Do- economic change. Healy-Rae himself sticksto a simple po- ernance.’’ change. ‘‘The report has been charged with hav- nore Avenue, a complexof bleak, partially ‘‘There was never a poor day,’’ he says litical philosophy. ‘‘If somebody rings me, Cowen, the brother of former taoiseach ‘‘For a country the size of Ireland, it is ing an anti-rural bias,which it doesn’t have abandoned flats that has had persistent about his boom-time youth. ‘‘Things were I’ll do what I can,’’ he says. Sometimes, Brian Cowen and once a councillor him- my belief that local representation will not in any shape or form.Consider the facts on problems with sewerage and dampness. always getting better, going up.There was that’s not a lot. self, says he is ‘‘unnerved’’ by the immi- suffer,’’ says Murphy. ‘‘I think there are a the ground: there are more people living in Moynihan explains, with concern, the so- no such thing as anything going down.’’ ‘‘If you look at the council body, our nent boundary changes. Relationships lot of councillors, but the government has urban areas than rural. So there will be 36 cial norm-setting that comes as a result of Despite recession, spirits are high at the main core functions are water, housing with consituents are being jeopardised, he its own view with regard to reducing the councillors in Dublin,13 in Leitrim.’’ letting urban disorder slowly spread ^ ‘‘the Kilgarvan show.The sun is breaking and taxation,’’ he says. ‘‘But you can raise says. His suggestion is that the increase in number of politicians in the country.We’re broken window theory’’.There is no short- through the clouds and there’s a sweet a motion about road resurfacing, get it councillors in the greater Dublin region is seeing that withthe argument for abolition age of those here. smell of hay and rain in the air. Farmers passed, and management will write to representative of deference to the interests of the Seanad. ‘Richer areas have Regeneration is a sluggish process. ‘‘It deftly side-step parked cars to lead ram NRA. That’s all that will come out of it. of the , which has limited ‘‘I would say ^ from an academic stand- more influence’ takes an awful lot of management. People lambs past the tents to corrals at the back I’d probably get as much value if I wrote traction in rural communities. point ^ that the government’s local strat- in richer areas sometimes have more influ- of the field.There’s a sizeable queue for the to them directly.’’ But going from 1,600 council seats to egy makes eminent sense. The local ittingonthe steps of CityHall in ence,’’ says Moynihan. chip van. Jersey-wearing children are He is of the belief that core functions of 949 is a welcome streamlining, according property taxshould go to local services; Dublin, Rebecca Moynihan ‘‘We can be seen as a dumping ground ^ practically in orbit ahead of the football the council are getting lost: water lost to Ir- to Gary Murphy, head of the school of inroads to linkage between community doesn’t look like a councillor. those kind of nice things, expected else- match, racing from puppy pens to cattle ishWater (more of which anon), long-term law and government at Dublin City Uni- and service are welcome initiatives.’’ S She looks like somebody who where,we don’t get them. Fatima [the Fati- classes, tins of fizzy drinks clutched in leasing schemes replacing systems that al- versity and a non-partisan academic voice Irish government has, since the founda- might make an Irish Times shortlist for ma Mansions Regeneration Project in THE SUNDAY BUSINESS POST AUGUST 18 2013 News Focus n11

BEHIND THE SCENES: In a four-part series, The Sunday Business Post goes behind the scenes and enters the worlds of business, sport, politics and entertainment

Padraig Conneely, the Mayor of Galway, is interviewed by an overseas reporter in Rebecca Moynihan of Labour at a disused plot on Dublin’s Cork Street, which she his office AENGUS MCMAHON hopes eventually to see turned into a public park FEARGAL WARD county line

est-standing Labour Party strongholds. ‘‘A the long-term. ‘‘We can articulate issues accordingly. lot of people who voted for us [last time] and problems; senior officials look at ‘‘It was very important to us to do the wouldn’t be Labour people ^ they may maps and reports. I look at the ground be- square,’’ says Butler of the paved expanse not vote again. I can’t control what the low and talk to people on the ground. Go where we meet in Dundalk town centre, party leadership is doing. I can control down the streets and night and go into the 18 months in existence and having cost in what I can do. You get some wins at the public houses, that’s where you’ll pick up the region of e3 million. Council.’’ your information. My reports come from ‘‘It was one of those times as a council- Even an eight-year-old boy swinging on local testimonies; people are no fools. lor when I was banging my head off the a gate on Catherine’s Avenue recounts Never underestimate the public. If some- table. I had a clear sense of what we some of the basic information about the body strolls up to me, good chance he’s as wanted ^ traders were concerned about Player Wills site, and asks what’s next.The smart as the lad sitting above in City Hall.’’ the development; we said we wouldn’t take community is engaged. As mayor,the workload trebles. ‘‘People the money unless we could do something think that you can click your fingers and dramatic with it.’’ get things done. So they ring you more At one point, Butler walked out of a ‘Take the pictures, and more and more. While I would get at- council meeting when it didn’t appear to talk the rubbish’ tention and responses, you can’t solve all. be going her way. She got it in the end; as But I would have a good try,’’ he says,with then-chair of the council, her name is he Galway Races are drawing to a a hint of exasperation. etched into a small plaque on one of its close. It is the last in a series of an- Driving in the mayoral car, Conneely corners. It’s in good company: Bill Clin- A family affair: Danny, Jackie, Johnny and Michael Healy-Rae outside the nual summer fixtures that keep makes a number of phonecalls, reading ton’s lies on the opposite side, a memento familypubinKilgarvan DON MACMONAGLE T the city moving. ‘‘There’s a lot and re-reading paperwork and invitations of his visit in 2000.Dundalk,on the whole, being spent those weeks,’’ says councillor to what he calls ‘‘functions’’. Approaching looks good. ‘‘Better than you expected it Pa¤ draig Conneely. the Galway Clinic where he is due to pay would?’’ Butler queries, concious of pre- He should know. He was mayor of the somebody a visit, his driver wordlessly conceptions. In truth, probably. city during first Volvo Ocean Race stop- slows down, waiting for him to get off the She says that the decision to become a over in 2009 (the ‘‘Maverick Mayor’’ mon- phone. councillor (and a ‘‘full-time politician’’) iker was earned during this time). As it ‘‘The decoration . . . contraption,’’ Con- was ‘‘last-minute’’ and she was elected happens, he was re-elected mayor last neely eventually mutters,extracting from a after a ‘‘short, sharp campaign’’.Up to that June. compartment a box that holds his livery point, she had worked with AIB in Dublin. I’m familiar with Conneely,who is part collar and wrestling it over his head in time ‘‘It was going to be job, or council. Once of the furniture of the city I grew up in. for the approach to the entrance. He also elected, I stuck with the council.’’ Driving in over Prospect Hill for our finds time to adjust his hair.The first per- Butler reckons the removal of Dundalk meeting, I spot his unmistakable outline son to sidle up to him in the lobby is an old- Town Council will be detrimental. ‘‘Not propped against the doorframe of a small er lady in a floral dress. ‘‘You’re looking all councils are equal. I can only surmise house, pen and paper in hand, leaning well!’’ she exclaims. ^ looking at the budgets some of them put down to the ear of an elderly resident. Later, at an international underage elite forward ^ that a number of them are glor- ‘‘He’s out and about,’’ I remark to my football tournament at Drom, just outside ified TidyTowns committees.’’ mother. the city,the ambassadorial nature of being Butler’s baby is less than a month old. It’s just after 9am. ‘‘He’s always out and mayor becomes more clear. Although ‘‘It will slow me down, to an extent. It will about,’’ she responds. Conneely stays for just 30 minutes and change my pace. I’m watching other peo- The councillor is a pen-and- ple tweeting about canvassing already, in paper kind of guy. He uses an oblong No- the knowledge that I won’tbe starting until Marianne Butler speaks at a meeting NEWSFILE kia phone with a ringtone that sounds like January.There will be issues that become 2001.He doesn’t use email; I sent the brief ‘I look at the more important to me ^ not just asking FEARGAL WARD for interview to him by fax (a first for me). about people, but also thinking about my In person, he is smartly dressed; suited, in ground below and son and his needs,’’ she says. a shirt and tie. He wears a claddagh ring The budget process is incredibly impor- nearby Rialto] happened in 2006-2007, with matching cufflinks and has the Gal- talk to people on the tant to her. ‘‘Some don’t engage with it; I and is only now beginning to feel like a way crest pinned to his lapel. He strides go through it forensically,’’ she says. ‘‘In community again.’’ purposefully around the lobby of the ground. Go down the last budget,we were able to chop park- The halls of the F2 community centre in Meyrick Hotel, if only seeking out coffee. ing charges in the town, from e1.30 to Fatima, where I follow Moynihan to a Last week he travelled to the US,to Mil- the streets and e1.00.Wewere also able to reduce the com- meeting, are full of kids that seem happy waukee and Chicago to attend an Irish mercial rate by 1 per cent [now at the 2006 and well-adjusted. Keyboard music rises fair, manning the stand for Galway. ‘‘Meet night and go into level]. A lot of savings have been achieved through the stairwells, and everybody the Americans, take the pictures, talk the here by reorganisation of background knows everybody by name. rubbish,’’ he says.He is to-the-point, funny stuff.’’ Dressed in a mid-length navy circle and colourful, later using the phrase ‘‘spi- the public houses, Butler is worried that Putting People skirt with red suede flats and a t-shirt in teful neglect’’ to describe treatment of a First, by rolling Louth in with Dublin and bold champagne and navy stripe, Moyni- roundabout. that’s where you’ll the east midlands, will shove her county han stops to say hello to the vast majority Conneely will have a weekoff at the end out on the periphery again. But there are of passers-by. She hauls around a large of the month before returning to council pick up your more pressing matters at hand. bag with a Louis Vuitton monogram and sittings and chairing six other committees At the evening’s council meeting, those Dundalk Town Council in session NEWSFILE a second, smaller, canvas tote that reads and boards of management. He presided information’ present are examining the implications of ‘‘Berlin is always a good idea’’. over an eight-hour council meeting until the recent discovery that the Dundalk Shelikes to engage inwhat she calls slow midnight before breaking for summer so Business Improvement District Scheme canvasses. ‘‘I always canvass. You can do ‘‘the slate could be clean’’ upon return. (Bids) company had been dissolved since the election-time stuff, but people don’t ‘‘It’s onerous,’’ Conneely says of his meets a maximum of five people (not last May, a fact brought to light by fellow get to know you,’’ she says. On St Catheri- work. ‘‘I start at 7am and work to mid- counting the pack of young boys who he councillor Sean Bellew at a previous meet- ne’s Avenue off South Circular Road, she night most days.The role of the councillor mock-bickers with about sport), the orga- ing,to some furore. expertly fields questions, even from chil- is representational. The mayoral role is nisers are inordinately grateful. ‘‘It’s great, Assurances are made by company di- dren (’’What kind of dog do you have?’’), more promotional. People tell me: ‘You it’s crucial, it’s appreciated . . .’’ one man rector Paddy Malone (formerly president introducing herself simply as Rebecca, can’t say that, you’re mayor’. Well, I can splutters, as Conneely departs. of Dundalk Chamber of Commerce) that sometimes following up with: ‘‘I went to say it. I’ll raise the issues I see. I’ve made If he is worried about how Fine Gael the company would be reinstated.The si- school with your sister’’ or ‘‘I spoke with that clear to the city manager.’’ will fare at the 2014 local elections, that is tuation is branded as ‘‘less than exemp- your wife before’’. Conneely has been a councillor since to say nothing of his counter- lary’’ by one councillor, and as ‘‘a matter Moynihan is in the neighbourhood to 2004 and long involved with Fine Gael at part in Louth. of alarm’’ by another.Three further coun- brief residents on the fate of the site of the executive and organisational level. He cillors, members of the Bids board, were old Player Wills cigarette factory,which it chaired the party’s national executive for a unaware of the dissolution, to the chagrin backs onto. High-rise apartments, once stint, and worked with former leaders Gar- ‘Not all councils of peers. mooted, are now unlikely.There is talk of ret FitzGerald, John Bruton, Alan Dukes are equal’ ‘‘It is an error that has exposed a lot of using it for non-core hospital facilities, but and Michael Noonan. weaknesses in the corporate governance Moynihan has other ideas, namely a mul- In canvassing for next year’s local elec- arianne Butler is rare on the of Bids,’’ Butler says during the meeting. tidenominational secondary school,which tions, Conneely expects criticism and ac- council as a woman, as a ‘‘I’ll keep an open mind. But the minutes is warmly received by parents in the area. knowledges that the public may be (new) mother, but also as a and accounts of the company need to be She’s trying to get ‘‘Ruairi’’ to come Padraig Conneely drops in on the Macron Cup football tournament in encouraged to make a statement about M member of the Green Party. opened up to the council and to the rate- around to it. Galway city AENGUS MCMAHON government whenvoting. ‘‘I don’t like aus- ‘‘It’s a joke I make when meeting people payers. Is Bids sustainable?’’ Moynihan is also fighting for more tri- terity,we’re there, I don’t like it,’’ he says. for the first time,’’ she says. ‘‘ ‘Guess which Her question, the first of quite a few, vial things, like more bins in the area ^ ‘‘Some people will tell me they’re not hap- party I’m from.’ They very, very rarely hangs in the air.The meeting rolls on, and dog-fouling being a big problem locally. py with government, but they’ll say ‘In guess correctly.’’ it’s refreshing to see headlong challenges ‘‘You’re not going to walk into a shop hold- fairness to yourself . . .’I hope that distinc- Visibility of Greens is improved at local by councillors keen to hold somebody to ing a bag of shit,’’ she says flatly, to the tion carries through to the ballot box.’’ level, however,according to Butler. ‘‘We’ve account. Butler’s point about the value of amusement of a dog-owning couple who In 2005, 2006 and 2007, Conneely saw upped our game in Louth,’’ she says, refer- the town council is not lost on this occa- open their door to her. ‘‘I sometimes think development levies worth between e6 mil- ring to the presence of three Green Party sion. the waste department is running the lion and e7 million coming into the coun- members on Dundalk Town Council. A few days later, back in Dublin, I re- Council, not the other way around.’’ cil. ‘‘This year, we’re not going to get ‘‘The hope would be that those town coun- ceive an email from Malone, acknowled- She is informal and sometimes irrever- e250,000,’’ he says. cil seats would become county council ging our meeting. ‘‘PS,’’ he writes, ‘‘that ent, but efficient, taking residents’ emails Local authority rates in the city are seats.’’ company is now fully restored.’’ down on her iPhone, emailing photos of ‘‘slow’’, though the rate has been stable Butler feels that the community envir- footpaths ruptured by tree roots to the since 2010. ‘‘If the government can take a onment in Dundalk and other regional council, identified by an elderly lady who bit more control by the end of the year, towns would be incredibly different were has tripped twice as a result. people may get the confidence to spend Greens not in government during a period When doors go unopened, Moynihan again,’’ Conneely says. ‘‘Certain people of peak development. BEHIND THE pushes leaflets through letterboxes. Even have money,they’re just waiting for some- ‘‘You’re representing the people, so you those that say, as they so often do in Du- body else to move first.’’ need to do things that actually represent blin, ‘‘NO JUNK MAIL’’. A blurb at the Galway City had 15 councillors, it’s them. As a councillor, you can pursue SCENES base of her letter explains the merit of its moving to 18in line with revisions.In Con- Green values on certain matters ^ deci- contents, concluding with: ‘‘Consequently, neely’s opinion, 18 is too many. ‘‘Fifteen sions on planning, as an example. When NEXT WEEK: I do not consider this junk mail. If you do, was quite enough. I was happy with that.’’ the local development plan was up for re- email me.’’ Johnny Healy-Rae presses the flesh and buys a raffle ticket from some Even so, it is his hope that councillors’ newal, I was able to go through that with a The film and TV industries She reckons her area is one of the long- locals at the Kilgarvan Show DON MACMONAGLE decision-making power is preserved in fine tooth comb and make my submissions