There was uproar in the Laois County Council chambers on Wednesday as Councillors in the Borris-in-Ossory / Mountmellick Municipal District decided to postpone their monthly meetings until September.

A monthly area meeting is held by Councillors where motions are tabled to oversee works undertaken in their constituency.

While the Portlaoise Municipal District takes one month off, the Portarlington district elects to take two months off.

At the latest Borris-in-Ossory / Mountmellick meeting, Councillors decided that three months off would be taken. 

Though only nine meetings will take place out of twelve, the Councillors will still receive the same wages of €3,000 per month (€2,298.04) to attend these meetings, plus varying expenses.

The Cathaoirleach and Leas-Cathaoirleach of each district receives an additional €459 per month to chair these district meetings. The Councillors will still receive these bonuses, regardless of whether these planned meetings take place.

On top of this, in the first half of 2024, a total of €11,287.64 was paid in monthly expenses to the district's six Councillors. Monthly expenses ranged from €91, to €1,658.02, with the average monthly payment totalling to €470.

Independent Cllr James Kelly argued that he disagreed with the postponement of meetings until September, and received backlash from fellow Councillors.

Pictured: Cllr Kelly with his sisters, supporters and wife at last June's elections

At the end of each meeting, a date is set for the following month's meeting.

Fianna Fáil Cllr Seamus McDonald suggested July 9, and several Councillors suggested the meetings be postponed until after the summer.

"We didn't meet in January, did we?" Cllr Kelly questioned.

"Because we don't meet in August either, I wouldn't be in favour of cancelling this meeting."

Cllr McDonald replied that the district engineer will not be available for a meeting in July.

Fellow Fianna Fáil Cllr Paddy Bracken replied that the Council should postpone meetings 'to allow workers to catch up'.

"In fairness, we have a lot of notices of motion in today again. Staff will be on leave as well, as summer and it's holiday time," Cllr Bracken said.

"I would come into an area meeting every week, there's no issue with that, I'm sure most of us can. But it's to try give our staff out there the chance to get work done. There's roadworks programmes ongoing at the moment, and they're busy. That's just my view, everyone should have a comment on it," he said.

Fine Gael Cllr John King agreed, stating that he would 'rather see the work done on the ground'.

"We are way behind on our notices of motion. If we took July off last year, I think the same rule should apply," he said.

Each of the Councillors expressed their support of this proposal, except for Mountrath Cllr James Kelly.

When Cllr Kelly attested that he did not support this proposal, he was met with rumbling from his fellow Councillors.

"Can I have my opinion? You have had yours, can I have mine?" he said.

The Councillors agreed for Cllr Kelly to continue.

"I have a diary from before the last local election, full of works that people have asked me to propose to the Council," Cllr Kelly said.

"They mightn't get done, but at least if I propose it, I can go back to them and say, I have put it forward to the Council, this is the answer I have got back," he argued.

"The July meeting is an opportunity for three more of my notices of motion, and I'm sure all of our Councillors have their diaries full of works that they have been asked to do over the two months, three months leading up to the local elections, and since then.

"So I would be totally against it, the other Councillors have their opinions which is no problem, but that's my opinion. I am totally against us cancelling the July meeting," Cllr Kelly said.

Cllr King remarked that thankfully, the Councillors are all busy.

"There are 18 notices of motion tabled every month, that works out at 180 for the whole year. I think it's best to give July a miss so that works can still continue," he said.

Fellow Fine Gael Cllr Conor Bergin supported Cllr King's and Cllr Bracken's remarks.

Pictured: Cllr Ollie Clooney and Cllr Conor Bergin

"I just want to support what Cllr King and Cllr Bracken have said. As Paddy said, the staff are very accessible there, we can ring them on the phone any day and they are quick to reply to emails. Certainly, there's no loss of communication with the staff here. I support what Cllr King is saying," he said.

Cllr Kelly was unhappy with this, and held up a list of agreed meetings for the year.

"Chair, this is our list of scheduled meetings, we agreed to them at an AGM last year. We agreed to them and they are written there. A motion of notice should still be put through, even if we can't get the work done. We should still be seen to at least be putting them forward and getting support in the Council. Take a vote on it if you want," he said.

The Council called for a proposal and seconder of the rescheduling of meetings to September. This motion was put forward by Cllr King, and seconded by Cllr Clooney. Cllr Kelly counter proposed this motion, and had no seconder. 

"So they don't want to put notices of motion in for July, that's fine," Cllr Kelly remarked with sarcasm.

Cllr Kelly then said that the Cllrs had clearly met prior to the meeting, to decide that they wanted to postpone the meeting.

Cllr Bracken was unhappy with this retort, and Cllrs began to shout over one another.

"That's not true, what you're insinuating," Cllr Bracken argued.

"Chair, a bit of respect now from the Cllr. There was nothing pre planned," Cllr Bracken slammed.

Pictured: Cllr Paddy Bracken

"You have to be realistic of the work load that's out there. We're just repeating this again, and we have to get work done. If you want a notice of motion in for publicity's sake, you can do that. That's not a problem at all. That's what you're implying, that you have to be seen putting forward motions," he argued.

Cllr Kelly took offence to this statement.

"Chair, obviously the remark there should be taken back. 'We are putting in notices of motion for publicity's sake', how dare you? How dare you say that," Cllr Kelly said.

"I'm not taking it back. I'm not taking it back," Cllr Bracken repeated.

Cllr Kelly continued to argue with Cllr Bracken over the statement, with Cllr Bracken refusing to retract his comment.

"Chair, I want that remark taken back. Take back that remark Councillor," Cllr Kelly said.

"I won't have any arguments," Cllr McDonald said.

"No, you will, I'm sorry chair. 'I'm putting in notices of motion for publicity'," Cllr Kelly said.

Cllr Bracken responded that Cllr Kelly had 'clearly said' that people had asked him to put the motions in.

"It's out of order completely, you should be ashamed of yourself, and of that remark," Cllr Kelly said.

Cllr Bracken replied that he was 'not one bit ashamed' of himself, or his remark.

"It was uncalled for completely," Cllr Kelly slammed.

The councillors continued to shout over one another, and Cllr Bracken refused to retract his comment. 

Cllr Clooney asked the district Engineer if 'they are short of work', or 'any jobs to do'.

"We're not," the engineer replied.

Cllr Clooney argued that he has motions from 2024 that have yet to be completed.

"I support Ollie there," Cllr Bergin said.

"We could have meetings every week with no shortage of motions, but we have to be realistic in fairness. If we have a meeting in September we can get an update of our motions from this year to see where they're at."

Cllr King said that out of 180 motions, the Councillors 'would be lucky' to see 90 carried out.

Cllr McDonald asked the Councillors if it was agreed for the meeting to be postponed.

"Of course it is," replied Cllr King.

This motion was tabled at the June sitting of Laois County Council's Borris-in-Ossory / Mountmellick Municipal District.

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