Ollie Moore loses out on becoming mayor

Taughmaconnell's Cllr Ollie Moore (FG) lost out on becoming Mayor of Roscommon this week after the Fine Gael/Hospital Action Group pact that came into play last year fell apart on the back of the hospital issue. It had been expected for several weeks that the voting arrangement would fall apart and this was confirmed at Monday's AGM when long time Fianna Fáil member Cllr Eugene Murphy became Roscommon mayor. The new mayor defeated Cllr Moore and Cllr John Murphy, who replaced Deputy Luke 'Ming' Flanagan on the council earlier this year. The election of Deputy Mayor of Roscommon was won by former Fine Gael member and now Independent Cllr Dominick Connolly, whose name was picked by the 'drawing of lots', following a tie vote with Fianna Fáil's Cllr Martin Connaughton. The recent closing of Roscommon Hospital's emergency department loomed largely over the council meeting on Monday afternoon. The AGM had been put off from earlier in the month due to negotiations between Fine Gael and the Hospital Action Group. It was believed that the action group would not choose a Fine Gael member following the closing of Roscommon's emergency department because of broken promises made by the Taoiseach and Minister for Health. The alliance that ran the council last year was made up of ten Fine Gael councillors, two Hospital Action group members, one Sinn Féin member and Independent Luke 'Ming' Flanagan, who was recently elected to Dáil Éireann. Ming had been Mayor of Roscommon until he went to the Dáil and then Fine Gael's Cllr Ernie Keenan took over the role until this wee. On the opposite side of the council were eight Fianna Fáil members, Labour's John Kelly (who became a Senator recently) and three Independents - Cllr Tom Crosby and two South Roscommon members Cllr Tony Ward and Cllr Jimmy Kenny. At Monday's meeting Cllr Eugene Murphy was proposed for Mayor by South Roscommon Fianna Fáil member Cllr Paddy Kilduff, who said that Cllr Murphy had over 25 years service to the council. His vote was seconded by Cllr Tony Ward. Fine Gael's Cllr Sean Beirne proposed Cllr Ollie Moore and it was seconded by his party colleague Cllr Michael McGreal. Sinn Féin's Cllr Michael Mulligan proposed Ming's replacement Cllr John Murphy and his vote was seconded by Hospital Action Group's Cllr Valerie Byrne. Eugene Murphy got twelve votes, Ollie Moore got eight votes and John Murphy got four votes. The two councillors who resigned the Fine Gael whip last week, Dominick Connolly and Laurence Fallon, abstained in the vote. John Murphy was eliminated and it had to go to a second vote and this time Eugene Murphy and Ollie Moore retained their votes, but didn't get any more votes because the Hospital Action Group, Sinn Féin, John Murphy and the two ex-Fine Gael members all abstained in the vote. As Eugene Murphy had more votes he was elected Mayor of Roscommon. The new Mayor walked throughout the chamber and shook hands with every member of the council and said that he looked forward to taking on the hospital issue, by arranging deputations to Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore. Mayor Murphy's first act was to facilitate the choosing of the Deputy Mayor. Cllr Kilduff proposed Cllr Martin Connaughton, and he was seconded by Cllr Tom Crosby, while Fine Gael members took the step of proposing and seconding their former colleague Cllr Dominick Connolly. Cllr John Murphy was again proposed and seconded by Sinn Féin and Hospital Action Group members. Connaughton got 12 votes, Connolly got ten votes, and John Murphy got four votes. After Murphy was eliminated, the Hospital Action group abstained, while Sinn Féin and Cllr Murphy voted for the ex-Fine Gael member Cllr Connolly. However this left the vote at 12-12 for Cllrs Connolly and Connaughton, and the meetings administrator, Fiona Ni Chuinn told the council that the Deputy Mayor had to be chosen by the 'drawing of lots'. Both names were written on two separate pages and folded and put into a biscuit tin. After it was examined by both sides of the house the County Manager Frank Dawson picked one of the papers out of tin. Ex-Fine Gael member Cllr Dominick Connolly's name was on the chosen paper and he became Deputy Mayor of Roscommon.