Buckley-Byrne, Henson likely to hold balance of power

The dust has barely settled on the new Athlone Town Council with five new councillors preparing to enter into the council chamber, but talks are underway between the new councillors to establish whether Fianna Fáil will retain power of the council with the help of two others or whether a Fine Gael/Labour/Independent alliance will take control. The new council is made up of Kevin "Boxer" Moran, Aengus O"Rourke and Kieran Molloy on the Fianna Fáil side of the house, Fine Gael"s Mark Cooney, Gabrielle McFadden and Alan Shaw, Sinn Féin"s Paul Hogan, Labour"s Jim Henson and Independent Sheila Buckley-Byrne. With Fine Gael preferring not to join forces with Sinn Féin"s Hogan, it leaves Sheila Buckley-Byrne and Labour"s Jim Henson as the key power-brokers. Speaking on whether Fine Gael would be open to a deal with Sinn Féin, Cllr Alan Shaw said: 'From the point of view of Fine Gael doing a deal with Sinn Féin, Sinn Féin aligned themselves with Fianna Fáil in the outgoing council so I don"t envisage doing a deal with Sinn Féin. But in relation to the Independent councillor, Fine Gael has generally been supported by independents in the past on Athlone Town Council on some occasions and we"re certainly willing to talk to the newly-elected Independent councillor. And of course we would like to talk to Jim Henson of Labour as well and I have no doubt that will be happening.' Cllr Hogan, however, said he was open to doing business with any of the councillors. 'My door is always open to anyone who is currently sitting on the council to come and meet me and reach an agreement on the council,' he said. However, he added that Fine Gael would have to answer the question as to whether it would be prepared to reach an agreement with him, saying it was only a short time ago that Fine Gael had issued a statement saying it wouldn"t do business with Sinn Féin. 'Civil war politics should be left to history, there are other councils around the country where Fine Gael and Sinn Féin have gone into councils together. I"d never say never, my door is always open,' said Cllr Hogan, who has sided with Fianna Fáil over the last five-year term. Asked whether the Fine Gael/Labour alliance on Athlone Town Council would continue into the new Council, Cllr Jim Henson said: 'I"m not 100% sure as yet, it is a possibility but nothing is agreed on at this time. There has been contact made.' He added that Labour would talk to everyone and would make its decision based on whatever was best for the people of Athlone, saying the people had given a clear indication of what they wanted in the way they had voted. Fianna Fáil"s Cllr Kevin "Boxer" Moran said the three councillors had not yet had a meeting, but they would sit down in the near future to discuss the issue and would remain tight lipped until then. Independent Cllr Sheila Buckley Byrne did not wish to comment on the issue.