The Youghal branch of the Labour Party have been sharp in their criticism this week of the Youghal Town Council’s decision to move the monthly meetings from Monday evenings to Tuesday mornings. By Michael Twomey. Photo: Michael Hussey Youghalonline.com

The decision was taken under work to rule practices with the Town Clerk informing members that working beyond the Council office hours was not an option in the current industrial climate. A vote was taken by the members to move the time of the meetings and was carried by an 8-1 majority. The one dissenting voice was Cllr. Donie Daly. While some would question why a Labour Cllr. would not recognise or support the work to rule action, this was not the Cllr’s reason for rejecting the idea. Cllr. Daly would, in effect, not be fulfilling his duties as a Cllr. due to his inability to attend Tuesday morning meetings because of his own work commitments.

The impasse has incensed supporters of Cllr. Daly who won his seat on the Council with 380 votes. Labour Party Spokesman, Tommy O’ Connell expressed the views of these voters when he called the Council’s decision ‘undemocratic’. “What has happened here is that Cllr. Daly has been disenfranchised by the Council. If he cannot sit at meetings then that means the voices of 380 people cannot be represented, that is undemocratic,” he said.
Cllr. Daly did raise the issue at the Council meeting and was promised a response. Meanwhile, how long the work to rule action will last, given the most recent developments at national level between the government and the public sector unions, is unknown. However, Mr. O’ Connell said the members of the Labour Party are ‘furious’ at the Youghal Town Council. “We are furious about this. Youghal is the only Council in the county to adopt such a move. Midleton, Fermoy, Cobh, they haven’t done it. We want the 380 people who voted in Cllr. Daly, with the promise that their voices would be heard, to know what is going on here,” he added.

Mr. O’ Connell concluded that the party is fully sympathetic to work to rule practices and supports workers’ rights but that in the instance of disallowing Cllr. Daly’s right to represent the people of the town, the move has undermined the democratic structures of the Council wherein the rights of the people to be represented should come first.