Cork City Council defers AAA-PBP co-option pending legal clarification

Cork City Council has opted to defer a decision on the co-option of an Anti-Austerity Alliance-People Before Profit (AAA-PBP) nominee to a vacant seat in order to get legal advice after questions were raised about the validity of the move.

AAA-PBP had expected to be able to nominate unsuccessful Cork South Central election candidate Fiona Ryan to replace the party’s newly elected TD Mick Barry, who served the Cork North Central ward.

However, Lord Mayor Cllr Chris O’Leary told the meeting the council had received correspondence last Thursday from an interested party - whom he did not name - questioning the validity of the co-option process by AAA-PBP to have Ms Ryan fill the seat.

Cork City Council director of corporate and external affairs Paul Moynihan, said he was seeking legal clarification on the issue which is governed by section 19.3A of the Local Government Act 2001 as the situation was not sufficiently clear to allow him advise the council to proceed with the co-option.

Under Section 19.3A, what is termed a casual vacancy on a council, such as one caused by the election of a councillor to the Dáil, is filled by the co-option to the council of a person nominated by the same registered political party who nominated the person vacating the seat for election.

The Irish Times understands the issue relates to the fact that Mr Barry won the council seat for the AAA but was a member of the AAA-PBP when he won his Dáil seat and whether the AAA-PBP has the authority to nominate his replacement.

A different section of the Local Government 2001 Act, Section 19.3 B applies in the case of non-party candidates where the seat is filled according to the council’s standing orders. In the case of Cork City Council, this is the next placed candidate in the poll and in this instance is the Labour party’s Catherine Clancy.

Several councillors spoke strongly in favour of proceeding with the co-option. Fianna Fáil Cllr Tim Brosnan questioned if the interested party who contacted the council was a registered political party or whether it was an individual engaged in “just mischief-making”.

He said he believed the council should proceed with the co-option of Ms Ryan to replace Mr Barry and, if the unnamed interested party had a difficulty with that, they could take legal action to challenge that decision but he believed the council should act and co-opt Ms Ryan.

Mr Moynihan confirmed the interested party was a registered political party but he did not identify the party. However informed sources have confirmed to The Irish Times that it was the Labour Party which raised an issue about the validity of AAA-PBP nominating Mr Barry's replacement.

After the vote, which saw the council defer any decision pending legal clarification, Mr Barry said that the people of Cork North Central ward had voted in huge numbers for the Anti-Austerity Alliance in the 2014 local elections and they were entitled to see that seat remain with the alliance.

“The Anti-Austerity Alliance believes this seat is an Anti-Austerity Alliance seat morally and politically but also legally and- it is clear from events this evening this deferral has happened on foot of actions by a defeated and vindictive Labour Party.

“They received one quarter of the vote of what the Anti-Austerity Alliance received in the North Central Ward in the last council election - they have been rejected by the electorate and we will not allow a situation where the Labour Party gets through the back door here by way of legal trickery,” Mr Barry said.