There were heated exchanges in the City Council chamber this week, before elected members approved new Standing Orders that consigns the recital of a pre-meeting prayer to history.
Accusations of bullying behaviour, grandstanding and filibustering were bandied about by councillors at Monday’s meeting, the last before the summer recess.
The meeting – which at times descended into a shouting and slagging match over the course of 75 minutes – was adjourned twice by Mayor Pearce Flannery (FG), including once to allow members to ‘cool off’.
In the end, a majority of councillors voted in favour of a motion to approve the new Standing Orders without debate, having already voted on each individual new Standing Order at previous meetings.
The new rules governing meetings come into effect when the Council reconvenes in September. From then on, a prayer will no longer be recited at the beginning of Council meetings – it will be replaced with a period of silent reflection.
It means that Monday was the last time the prayer was said in the Chamber, a tradition that stretches back decades.
Pádraig Conneely (FG) and Declan McDonnell (Ind) of the ruling pact, proposed a motion that the new Standing Orders be accepted without debate.
Fianna Fáil, the opposition, strongly objected to this motion, which led to tetchy exchanges.
Peter Keane (FF) accused the pact of attempting to “guillotining debate”. Mike Crowe (FF) clashed with Mayor Flannery as he proposed a counter-motion, which would have allowed members to re-open the debate over the prayer.
Cllr Crowe said Galway City Council was becoming “more and more a bullying chamber than I’ve ever seen before”.
For more on the row in the Council chamber, see this week’s Galway City Tribune. Buy a digital edition of this week’s paper here, or download the app for Android or iPhone.
The post Another unholy row over plan to abandon Council prayer appeared first on Connacht Tribune.