Mayor defends Budget meeting actions

The Mayor of Donegal has been defending the actions which led to the 2010 Budget being passed by just ten Fianna Fáil councillors.

The fall-out over what happened at Donegal County Council’s Budget meeting yesterday is showing no signs of easing.

The council’s 19 other representatives were in discussions during what they understood to be an adjournment in proceedings.

Fine Gael, Sinn Féin, Labour and Independent councillors were in talks over commerical rate reductions when they were informed the Budget meeting had been reconvened in their absence.

According to local Government legislation, the budget needs a quorom of just nine councillors to be passed as opposed to a majority of the full council.

Mayor Byrne and Fianna Fáil councillors have today come in for searing criticism over what happened

Speaking to Ocean FM News, Mayor Byrne maintained that his conscience is clear.

He said he had made it clear the meeting would reconvene at 5pm and it was each councillor’s responsibility to be back in the chamber at that time.

Mayor Byrne added that he had the option of either letting the budget collapse or continuing and after waiting for six minutes, he took the decision to proceed.

He said the questions should not be asked over who was in the chamber when the Budget was passed, but rather why the other councillors were not in the chamber on behalf of those who elected them.