Craic On

Because she had left the crucial Council budget meeting to go and take an IT evening class, the vote was lost on the casting vote of the Chairman. Now Donegal has become a laughing-stock throughout the land.

Here are some questions for Rena:-

1.  Would it have been possible to cancel the class or to get a substitute to take it, this being one of the most crucial meetings you would ever attend?

2.  When last year’s budget meeting went into the wee small hours and the budget meeting the previous week had gone on into the wee small hours and the absolute deadline was midnight for agreement or the Councillors would all be out of jobs, why did you not consider that this meeting might go on past the 6:15pm that you departed?

3.  Councillor Campbell had outlined a set of proposals to Fine Gael and Labour that if they met them he would vote for the budget (and Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein were aware of these proposals). Why did you not consider the possibility that Fine Gael and Labour might accept them in full to get their budget passed as they did?

4.  When it looked like a vote was going to be taken and that Councillor Campbell had changed sides why did you not respond to the texts and phone calls that several people in the council chambers were sending desperately trying to get hold of you till after midnight, the deadline for the Council budget vote?

5.  If you were just 10 minutes away from the Council Chambers when the vote was taken, as has been said, why did you not continue on to the Council chambers?

6.  How did you get the news if councillors couldn’t get through to you by text or phone? If you managed to hear it on the radio in that short time, why didn’t you call your colleagues to see what had happened or continue to the Council chambers to find out what was going on and if it could be reversed?

7.  How hard did the Fianna Fail leadership try to convince you to cancel your class or find a substitute or to stay at the budget meeting before you left at 6:15pm?