Chase for chairs heats up post election

Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil reach agreement. AGM takes place Friday.

Horse trading is going on behind closed doors and the Celt understands that, locally, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are mirroring the prevailing government of the day ahead of the first meeting of Cavan County Council post election.

There are a number of prominent and lucrative positions to be decided - most notably who will serve as Cathaoirleach for the year ahead and each of the subsequent four years thereafter for the lifetime of this local government.

Other positions include the Municipal District chairs, as well as vice chairs; Strategic Policy Committee (SPC) chairs and other appointments to, for example, the local education and training board.

Together, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have 12 seats combined, enough to fend off any potential uprising were a technical group to form between the three Sinn Féin candidates and Aontú's Sarah O'Reilly, Independent Ireland's Shane P O'Reilly, and Independent Brendan Fay.

The Celt understand that progress has been “slow” but conversations will continue behind closed doors right throughout this week ahead of the Annual General Meeting of Cavan County Council on Friday, June 21, at 10am, in the Council Chamber at Cavan Courthouse.

Five years ago Fine Gael were left feeling particularly aggrieved when excluded from most positions, with only Carmel Brady getting Leas Cathaoirleach in 2023-24, and Municipal District Chairs given to Winston Bennett (2019-20), Val Smith (2020-21), shared between Madeleine Argue and Peter McVitty (2021-22), and TP O'Reilly (2023-24).

Fianna Fáil in contrast claimed three Chairs - Clifford Kelly (2021-22), John Paul Feeley (2022-23), and Philip Brady (2023-24)- with Cllr O'Reilly (Ind) and O'Reilly (Aon) who both topped the polls in their respective areas, getting the chain in 2019-20 and 2020-21 respectively.

The remainder of the Leas Cathaoirligh positions were shared out among Fianna Fáil members except for one, with Patricia Walsh getting the role twice.

Cathaoirligh of the 31 local authorities receive an annual allowance as do Leas-Chathaoirligh on top of their representational payment.

The head of the chamber takes up the position mid year, so two members received close to an extra €10,000 each.

Members can also receive additional payments if they serve as chair of a Special Policy Committee (€6,000), as do the Cathaoirligh of municipal districts.

The negotiations this time out are being led by John Paul Feeley as party whip for Fianna Fáil and TP O'Reilly for Fine Gael.

Both men spoke with Cllr S.P. O'Reilly (Ind) and S. O'Reilly (Aon), as well as Cllr Fay, in separate meetings at the Hotel Kilmore last Friday evening.

Both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were both expected to meet within their own groupings yesterday evening (Tuesday), with a meeting scheduled with Sinn Féin councillors pencilled in for later today (Wednesday).