INTENSE behind the scenes moves are taking place today (Tuesday) to form a majority alliance on Waterford City Council to decide who is going to be the new mayor of the city.
The newly elected 15-member Council will meet on Monday night next and the first item on the agenda will be to elect Waterford’s first citizen - a post which carries an annual salary of just under •60,000 and the use of a new car.
The two largest political groupings on the new Council are Fine Gael, with four members, and Labour with three. They need just one more to give a majority of eight.
Whether they would opt for the lone Fianna Fáil representative remains to be decided.
The other option would be to align themselves with the four Independent candidates offering one, if not two terms as Mayor, over the next five years.
That would create a situation where John Halligan, who received the highest number of votes in last week’s local elections, would become Mayor of Waterford for the very first time in his political career.
The new Council will also appoint a Deputy mayor for the coming year and chairpersons to key committees on the City Council will also be decided.
While Fine Gael and Labour will likely broker a deal, a meeting took place yesterday between Independents John Halligan, Davy Daniels, Mary Roche and Laurence (Cha) O’Neill.
None have yet been approached to form a ‘Pact’ but it is understood that the four Independents who met privately this week have decided to “stay together as a group”. Either all join or none will.
As the election count drew to a conclusion at the Butler Community Centre in St. John’s Park on Sunday last Fine Gael’s Cllr. Tom Cunningham said they would be meeting as a party to have a discussion on a possible pact.
Asked if they would have an alliance with Independents similar to the last Council he said, “There are natural alliances there and we have proved in the past that we can effectively work together. We have looked at the larger picture for the good of the city and our record stands for itself. We have the lowest waste charges outside of Dublin. We have the lowest increase in rates and that was done through constructive partnership through the groups. I would hope that partnership continues for the good of the city.”
Asked who the new Mayor might be Cllr. Cunningham said the Mayoralty was a tremendous honour and it was not given out lightly. It was an honour given to somebody willing to be constructive and take the hard decisions and choices for the city.
Asked specifically about John Halligan, who received the highest mandate of all the candidates at the polls, he said, “John was a very responsible and experienced councillor. He is, in my opinion, deserving of the mayoralty because of the mandate he has and his experience he has on the Council.”
