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July's meeting of Galway City Council had to be abandoned after less than an hour on Monday night, when a long-running row between Mayor Padraig Conneely and Cllr Daniel Callanan over clamping erupted yet again.
Last April, outspoken councillor Callanan accused a number of his fellow councillors, including Mayor Conneely and Cllr Tom Costello, of having clamps removed from their cars without paying the appropriate fine. He has since pressed the councillors for an explanation on the incident but to no avail. A frustrated Cllr Callanan raised the issue again on Monday night but ended up in a heated row with the Mayor over his conduct.
After he refused to let the business of the meeting go ahead, the councillors deemed Cllr Callanan to be out of order and expelled him from the chamber.
However, he again refused to leave and the meeting was swiftly adjourned. Many other councillors were left frustrated and annoyed as a number of statutory items were left undetermined, among them the granting of a licence for the Macnas Parade, which is due to take place this Sunday 20 July.
"Both men have questions to answer after Monday's night events. It is just not acceptable that this meeting was adjourned when there was hugely important issue to be addressed, including funding for housing and the licence for the Macnas parade.
"I understand that Cllr Callanan wants answers to his questions and he has been stonewalled over the last number of months but the chamber is the not the place to sort it out. He and Mayor Conneely need to sit down outside of the meeting with city officials and work out their differences. They need to learn to put their personal differences aside and get on with the business at hand," said Green Party councillor Niall O Brolcháin.
However, Cllr Callanan defended his actions, saying he is sick of issues being "brushed under the table". He said he would keep going until the information was out in the open.
"I don't know how this has gotten to this stage but all I have done is seek an explanation on a simple matter. This is typical of Galway City Council, any issue they don't want to address is just ignored or tied up in the High Court!
"At this stage, I am standing up on a point of principle. People are gunning for me and saying it a personal vendetta against Mayor Conneely but all I am looking for is a simple explanation from himself and Cllr Costello in relation to what happened.
"I will be at the meeting on Friday, so there will be no issue about getting through the statutory items. The next meeting is due for September but I see no reason why this couldn't be resolved by then. I have been taking a lot of flack for this but if I just gave up now, I might as well resign. I will keep going under I get an explanation. All I want is answers."
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