‘Justice has been done’ says Boxer after council changes rules

When Cllr Kevin “Boxer” Moran (Ind) attempted to take up the seat left vacant following the resignation of his son Jamie (Ind) from Westmeath County Council at the end of 2021, he was thwarted by a council decision which saw members vote 12-6 to co-opt Independent and former Sinn Féin member Paul Hogan to fill the vacancy.

Furious, Cllr Moran slated the move at the time as a “power grab for an independent seat by a government-driven combination of Fianna Fáil/Greens”.

The issue was revisited at the council's AGM in Mullingar in June, when Labour councillor Denis Leonard proposed that the council's standing orders in relation to what are termed “casual vacancies” be amended to prevent a similar situation happening again in the future.

His proposal was that the rule governing what happens when an independent councillor steps down is that that person should have the power to nominate a person of their choice to fill the vacancy.

Cllr Leonard said that as a small party, the Labour Party stood for “democracy, equality and justice”.

“And I don’t think any of them were served that day,” he said, referring to the Moran situation.

Cllr Leonard pointed out that in Dáil Éireann, if such a vacancy arises, then a by-election has to take place. If a by-election had been held at that time in Westmeath, he said, “I think we know the result”.

“We didn't have that opportunity, so therefore the largest party in the chamber was able to nominate basically a person of their choice, and that's the fact of what happened,” he said.

What that amounted to, he continued, was that a party which had obtained 30% of the votes in the county and just 20% of the votes in the Athlone Electoral District excluded someone who had 40% of the votes.

At the same time, he explained, if any of the parties in the chamber went down to one member and that member decided to step down for any reason, the parties had the power to nominate their replacement.

From a democratic point of view, it was not fair, he said, that the same rules did not apply in the case of an independent councillor.

Outlining the practices that pertain in other local authorities around the country, he said Westmeath was the only chamber that does not allow this, and referring to what happened at that time in Westmeath, he said it was a precedent that he believed no one wanted to see repeated.

“We cannot be seen to do something which is not in the interest of natural justice or fairness,” he said.

Cllr Tom Farrell (FG), on behalf of Fine Gael, said his party too was of the view that irrespective of their party, the person leaving the council should have the right to nominate their replacement.

Cllr Ken Glynn (FF) said Fianna Fáil had “no problem” in supporting that change to standing orders.

Cllr Paul Hogan (Independent Ireland), who was the councillor co-opted to replace Cllr Jamie Moran, said that when he was co-opted to what was a vacant Independent seat, he was, at the time, an Independent councillor.

However, he continued, he saw the merit in the amendment proposed by Cllr Leonard.

“I just want to put on record that I was an Independent at the time: I actually was on the same list as the outgoing member.” Cllr Moran welcomed the decision to amend the rule: “I feel justice has been done, because that injustice was done to me at the time,” he stated.

“Political parties should have no right to interfere with democracy today. And today, democracy has won.

“It was a shame on Fianna Fáil; it was a shame on some members of Fine Gael that turned their backs on one of their own,” he said.