City Council watch: crime, punishment and electioneering
City councillors were back in chambers last night, and some of them are clearly in electioneering mode. Also, a new chief exec is on the way and HP is not on the menu.
It was back to business for Cork City Councillors on Monday night, 9 September, as they returned from the summer break to debate a raft of motions on everything from additional buses, pop-up Garda stations, election posters, and the age-old chestnut of crime and punishment on the city’s streets.
Election posters: It’s only a matter of months before we once again see utility poles and roundabouts plastered with the visages of candidates for the 2025 general election. Not everyone is happy with the current system, and newly-elected Green Party Councillor Honore Kamegni, in his motion, called for election posters to be banned in future elections.
Debating the motion, councillors were quick to remind their new colleague that these posters played a significant role in his election. But do they? Not all councillors were in agreement on this issue, but many, including another newly-elected councillor, Michelle Gould (SF), asserted that the legislation supports election posters and that they help candidates gain a foothold, or a face hold, in their constituencies. It’s likely that, for a large percentage of constituents, an election poster is the first time they will have set eyes on incumbents, which could explain why the turnout in this year’s election was less than 50% across all wards.
Cllr Ted Tynan (Workers' Party) was one of a few councillors to suggest a way past the current system of putting posters up on every pole in the city: he proposed copying the French, who have a designated space for all candidates. Indeed, this system is used across the world, as in Japan, where all candidates display their posters on election boards. This would certainly help with clutter, overspending, and waste, but as more than one councillor pointed out, the issue of election posters has been raised for years. Plus ça change.
No votes: The low turnout at this year’s election was discussed in a motion tabled by Cllr Oliver Moran, who asked that more work be done to develop specific strategies to educate the 17% of ordinary residents of the city who are not Irish citizens about their right to vote in local elections.
What you need to know to vote in a local election
nyone ordinarily resident in Ireland (and over the age of 18) can vote in a local election, unlike in general and European elections, where the legislation is different. Councillors of all parties were quick to recognise that there is a great deal of apathy when it comes to local politics. Cllr Brian McCarthy (Socialist Party) said the answer lies in politics, while Cllr Paudie Dineen (Independent) said more needs to be done to revive local politics.
Programmes to educate school students were also highlighted, but as Michelle Gould, a teacher, pointed out, secondary school students are educated in aspects of local and national democracy. Plus, as was also noted, Cork city is unique in that the Mayor visits primary schools across the city, which is an opportunity to get students aware of local politics. Of course, as Lord Mayor and Green Party Councillor Dan Boyle pointed out, incumbents have to be careful to tread a non-partisan line and not promote their own brand, as previous Mayors have been wont to do.
Crime and punishment: One of the most controversial motions of the evening came from Cllr Shane O’Callaghan (FG), who is making a real play as the candidate of law and order in the upcoming general election. His motion called on the City Council to write to the Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee, urging her to consider introducing measures to heavily penalise aggressive begging, threatening, abusive, or insulting behaviour in a public place, and intoxication in a public place — essentially, to "lock them up and for longer."
Councillors across the board were quick to point out to Cllr O’Callaghan, a barrister, that introducing amendments to criminal justice legislation is well beyond the remit of the council chambers. However, the motion did provide a platform to discuss crime and the perception of crime in the city.
There was a universal appeal for a greater Gardaí presence on the streets, but a number of councillors including Brian McCarthy, Paudie Dinneen, John Maher (Labour) pointed out, this needs to come in tandem with increased funding to tackle homelessness, housing, addiction and mental health.
For his part, Cllr Terry Shannon (FF), said that “bums” had taken over Mary Elmes Bridge and made it a no-go area. His remark went unchallenged.
Elsewhere, and briefly: In response to a question from Cllr Kenneth Collins (SF), the City Council confirmed it has no plans to use HP sauce. HP is owned by Kraft Heinz and the company is on the Boycott, Disinvestment, Sanctions (BDS) list pertaining to Israel according to Cllr Collins.
However, Cllr Brian McCarthy had a different spin on it, posting on X that at a “Cork City Council meeting it was just confirmed that they will no longer be using HP products. This is a demand that was raised by the protest movement and also in a motion I submitted a few months ago so we can claim this one as a victory.”
Not quite. Or at all.
Welcome back: According to the Irish Examiner, Valerie O’Sullivan is in line to take over from Anne Doherty who finished up her tenure as Chief Executive of Cork City Council this past weekend.
However, Doherty isn’t going very far: The Irish Examiner "understands" she’s taking over as CEO of the Port of Cork. Salary: €221K. Given Ms Doherty’s vast experience in the public sector and her appreciation of Cork’s heritage, many in the city will be excited to see what happens with the bonded warehouses just downriver from City Hall, and what plans the Port of Cork may have to make them an integral part of the city once more.
The Examiner reports that O’Sullivan’s name will be put forward within days for the top job in City Council. Salary: €183K. O’Sullivan will be well known to staff and councillors from her time as a director in the City Council.
She’s also well known to readers of T+D as it emerged last year that just after we contacted Cork Council Council to inquire if posts that were liked on O’Sullivan’s Twitter/X account aligned with Council policies and directives.
But, it turned out O’Sullivan’s account had been “hacked.” She hasn’t returned to X since.
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