Behaviour 'an affront to democracy'

Cork County Council has been accused of breaking its own standing orders by one of its elected members.

Cllr Peter O’Donoghue of Aontú has expressed his frustration after a motion he brought to council last Monday week was drastically amended by members of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Cllr O’Donoghue’s initial motion called on the Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon TD to suspend Bord Bia chairman Larry Murrin with immediate effect. The motion was in response to Mr Murrin’s company Dawn Farms having been found to be importing beef from Brazil for some of its products.

Before a vote could be taken on whether or not to pass the motion, an amendment was proposed by Fianna Fáil Cllr Gearoid Murphy. The amendment read: “That Cork County Council supports the current independent governance review of Bord Bia, and that the chair is stepping aside from meetings pending the outcome.”

Despite protests from several councillors regarding the eligibility of the amendment, including Cllr O’Donoghue, the amendment was upheld and passed and as a result, the original motion could not be voted upon.

Cllr O’Donoghue cited Article 32 of Cork County Council’s standing orders regulating the proceedings of the council. Article 32 states that every amendment shall be relevant to the motion on which it is moved and shall be either (a) to leave out words, (b) to leave out words and insert or add others, (c) to insert or add words, (d) that the consideration of the question is postponed. An amendment shall not be in order if it is equivalent to a direct negative or if it is not in fact an amendment to the motion it purports to amend.

Commenting after the 9 March meeting, Cllr O’Donoghue said: “What happened at today’s meeting of Cork County Council was disgraceful. It was an affront to democracy and now asks serious questions of the entire democratic process within Cork County Council's full council meetings.

“Cork County Council’s standing orders are in place for a reason. They ensure a fair and level playing field for all councillors. If certain councillors and parties are given freedom to break those standing orders as clearly was the case at today’s meeting, that raises very serious questions,” said the Fermoy councillor.

Earlier in the meeting, a motion previously brought forward by Cllr O’Donoghue calling for council meetings to be streamed live online and for recordings of previous meetings to be made available, was defeated by 40 votes to 7.

Cllr O’Donoghue has written to the Mayor of Cork County Council, Cllr Mary Lenihan Foley, Chief Executive of Cork County Council, Moira Murrell, and the Deputy Mayor, Cllr Ian Doyle requesting an explanation as to what occurred.

In a response issued to this newspaper, a Cork County Council spokesperson said: “Cork County Council is satisfied that this matter was dealt with in full at the council meeting on 9 March last. It has no further comment to make on the matter.”