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WORKERS Party Councillor Ted Tynan has accused Fianna Fáil backbenchers of masquerading as dissidents in order to hold on to their seats but were continuing to support the government when it comes to cuts in services and shoring up the banks.
Cllr Tynan said that the latest comments from Northside TD Noel O’Flynn were a “smokescreen to deflect away from the Government’s vicious attacks on ordinary people”.
Terry Shannon
THE walkout by Fianna Fáil councillors from yesterday’s meeting of Cork County Council and the verbal assault launched on trade unions representing City Hall staff at yesterday’s meeting of Cork City Council were described this morning by Socialist Party councillor Mick Barry as being akin to “kids having a temper tantrum and throwing their toys out of the pram”.
Fianna Fáil councillors walked out of yesterday’s Cork County Council meeting for two hours in protest at IMPACT’s decision to boycott some dealings with representatives of the government parties which have cut their pay by 15-19 per cent in the last year.
THE Cork City Council Fianna Fáil group have placed a motion before the Council calling for it to adopt a new approach based on existing practices on the continent to housing maintenance, which allows tenants to have works carried out on their home by private contractors and payment would be claimed back through their rent, if work is not carried out by City Council within the space of three weeks.
Speaking for the group North Central Ward Councillor, Kenneth O’Flynn said, “I think this is a very ambitious and pragmatic approach to creating and keeping jobs in the City. With a recent discussion with the group, one of the common issues we found there is hardly a day goes by when someone does not make a representation to us regarding repairs needed to their home.
SPEAKING in the Dáil on the Labour Party motion calling for a Public Inquiry into the banking crisis Labour TD Seán Sherlock called on Fianna Fáil to hold an inquiry in public.
“Where else in the world would you get a government that hides behind a supreme court judgment as an excuse not to have an open and informed inquiry?
“In no other liberal democracy would a minister for finance stand before the legislature and, in addressing his justification for a “behind closed doors enquiry” refer, in one form or another, and no less than six, times to the ‘global international crisis’.
The army continues to have 40 soldiers assisting the emergency services and the Council to respond to flooding in Cork City, according to local Fianna Fáil TD and Foreign Affairs Minister, Micheál Martin.
“I remain in close contact with Government colleagues as the situation continues to unfold and to ensure that both the City and the County Council are given every possible support.”
“The army had four trucks and two flat bottom boats operating around the area of the Mercy Hospital, and its engineers are involved in the damage assessment that is underway following the collapse of a quay wall.”
