New coalition formed to lead Roscommon County Council

Roscommon has a new Cathaoirleach with the election this afternoon of Fianna Fáil's Paschal Fitzmaurice to the top post.

The election took place the annual meeting of the council, the first since the local elections recently.

A group of twelve councillors has formed a power bloc to control the council for the next five years. The group contains five Fianna Fáil councillors, four Fine Gael councillors and three independents.

Five of the six Athlone area councillors are included in the new alliance, with long-serving Tony Ward the only one not to be involved.

The new group proposed Fitzmaurice for election at the annual meeting this afternoon and he was elected by 12 votes to four for independent Cllr Nigel Dineen with two abstentions.

Cllr Tony Ward proposed Dineen as Cathaoirleach and also seconded the candidature of Sinn Féin councillor Leah Cull for Leas Cathaoirleach. However, she was defeated on an identical margin, 12-4, with the nominee of the new alliance, Larry Brennan, from Fianna Fáil, being chosen for the role.

The 12 councillors who have concluded an agreement are Paschal Fitzmaurice, John Naughten, John Keogh, Liam Callaghan, Laurence Fallon, Tom Crosby, Marty McDermott, Emer Kelly, Domnick Connolly, Larry Brennan, Sean Moylan and Gareth Scahill.

In a lengthy press statement issued this morning, the FF/FG/Independent coalition laid out its agreed policies, which included the extension of the existing free parking policy across the county for another five years.

The coalition also proposes to invite Friends of the Irish Environment to meet with them and the relevant stakeholders to see first-hand the destruction that is taking place at Lough Funshinagh and to highlight why there is an urgent need for the High Court injunction to be lifted to allow the completion of the over-flow pipe on an emergency basis.