Poll topper Fiona Bonfield gets top job
The Labour Party’s poll topping candidate in the Newport Electoral Area, Fiona Bonfield, has been installed as the first Cathaoirleach of the Nenagh Municipal District following last month’s local elections.
Ms Bonfield, who was first elected to Tipperary County Council in 2014, and who topped the poll in Newport in the last two local elections, proved to be a popular choice for the top job as she leads the Nenagh district grouping for the next 12 months.
A voting pact between Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Labour Party meant Ms Bonfield had sufficient votes to win any contest for the post of Chairperson.
Because of this there was never going to be a contest when the newly elected Nenagh Municipal District grouping met for its first agm in the Civic Offices in Nenagh on Thursday last.
Ms Bonfield proved to be the unanimous choice of members as those not involved in the political pact did not have sufficient votes to put a candidate forward who could pose a realistic challenge.
HANNIGAN UNHAPPY
One councillor who was unhappy with voting pacts at council level in Tipperary was Independent Joe Hannigan who said such arrangements enabled political parties to secure all the top political roles on the local authority.
“It’s not the way to be doing business”, he said.
Cllr Hannigan, who topped the poll for the third successive time in the recent local elections in the Nenagh Electoral Area, said he was never going to get the job of Cathaoirleach over the five-year lifetime of the council. This was despite the fact that he was the most popular candidate with voters in the Nenagh Local Electoral Area.
He pointed out that with five members from the three political parties having a greater voting strength compared to four remaining Independent councillors in the nine-seater Nenagh Municipal District, the political parties were able to join forces to dictate who gets the “plumb jobs”.
He urged members to consider adopting a system where the candidate first past the post in the election would be the first Cathaoirleach.
Under such a system, he said, the first five candidates with the highest first preference vote would get the opportunity to be Cathaoirleach for a one-year term over the five-year lifetime of the Nenagh Municipal District grouping.
LAUGHED OUT
Cllr Séamie Morris said he had over the years proposed that the system referred to by Cllr Hannigan be introduced at district council level, but had been “laughed out of court”.
However, he said he had full faith in Cllr Bonfield as a person with the capability to do justice to her new role as Chairperson. He said she had proven her popularity with voters by heading the poll in the Newport area, not just once but twice.
She was a hard-working and diligent person and he looked forward to working with her.
Meanwhile, in what appeared to be a compromise move by the political parties, Cllr Morris himself was the unanimous choice for the Leas-Cathaoirleach role. He was proposed for the position by Cllr John Carroll of Fianna Fáil and seconded by Cllr Phyll Bugler of Fine Gael.