War of words erupts between two Offaly Councillors

A WAR of words erupted between two County Councillors during Monday afternoon's Offaly County Council Budget Meeting in Áras an Chontae.
The tense, dramatic outburst between the two unfolded when a Notice of Motion calling for the public live streaming of the County Council's monthly meetings was being presented to the chamber.
The Motion was being proposed by Cllr Aoife Masterson (Sinn Féin), but things went off script when she alleged that Cllr John Leahy (Independent), Cathaoirleach, had a tense interchange with her earlier in the day in the Áras Canteen.
During this Canteen interchange, Cllr Masterson alleged that Cllr Leahy had said to her, “Go f**k yourself” when she requested a meeting with him to discuss what he had said during a Midlands 103 interview the previous week about the proposed Motion.
Cllr Leahy immediately denied the allegation, pointing out that he didn't say “Go f*** yourself” in the Canteen. Cllr Leahy said he hadn't been aggressive, but had said in a lighthearted way, “Please don't bring this bu****it to me, Aoife.” Cllr Leahy also told the Budget meeting that Cllr Masterson had threatened him with taking legal action after he had spoken to her in the Canteen.
Cllr Masterson's Motion called on the Council Executive to provide detailed costings for the live streaming of all public Offaly County Council meetings. She also called on the Council to adopt an interim measure, similar to Westmeath County Council, which would allow members of the public to request a link to access public meetings of Offaly County Council by Teams.
The public live streaming of local authority meetings is practised by a number of County Councils, and Cllr Masterson wants Offaly to follow suit. She first raised the issue about half a year ago. At present members of the public can physically attend Offaly County Council's meetings, but usually contact the councillors or members of the executive before doing so. Public live streaming would make the process much easier as the general public would be able to attend via an internet link.
A cost benefit analysis of Cllr Masterson's proposal has been done by the Council Executive and it's estimated that introducing live streaming to the Council will cost about €50,000.
When introducing her Motion, Cllr Masterson spoke for several minutes. She pointed out that Offaly had the highest percentage of spoiled votes outside of Dublin in the recent presidential election. 17.6% of those who went to the polls in the county registered invalid votes. Cllr Masterson pointed out that of the 27,632 votes cast, 4,870 were deemed invalid, leaving a valid poll of 22,762. Cllr Masterson said it would be wrong for the Councillors to ignore the message being sent by the 4,870 voters. She said such a high percentage of spoiled votes shows there is something institutionally wrong with the political system. To ignore the spoiled votes would be “to fiddle while Rome burns,” she remarked, and would show a “disconnect, dissociation and detachment” from the problem.
She said she didn't like the way the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Offaly Councillors had behaved when Presidential hopeful Gareth Sheridan had come before their September meeting seeking their endorsement to contest the presidential campaign. She said the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael councillors had "been allowed to go into a private closed room meeting” before coming to the decision that the Council wouldn't endorse anybody. “Nobody knows what went on in that room,” she said.
Cllr Leahy said she was straying from the point. He said she hadn't been physically present during the September meeting but had attended via the internet link. Cllr Leahy pointed out that during the September meeting he had told the Councillors, after they had listened to Mr Sheridan's submission, that they could now adjourn for several minutes in order to deliberate and decide how they would vote. Cllr Leahy said there was nothing untoward or sinister in this, but was merely giving the Councillors an opportunity to deliberate, as was their right.
Cllr Masterson replied that if the Cathaoirleach was saying that an internet link such as Zoom or Teams was not the same as being present in the council chamber, then the Council would have to change its standing orders. She said she had fully understood what was happening during the September meeting.
The Cathaoirleach asked her again to stick to the Motion. He said she had gone over the allotted time.
Cllr Masterson continued speaking about the high number of spoiled votes in the presidential election. She argued that live streaming in the Council chamber would break down the silence and disconnection and would foster a better democratic system. She also spoke about the need for more women to be involved in politics and claimed that the system doesn't encourage them enough to participate. “We need to get the message out there, more and more, that women have as much right to be at the Council table as at the dinner table”.
There was a further tense exchange of words and then Cllr Leahy ruled the Motion out of order and said they wouldn't discuss it any further. “If you do take legal action against me,” he added, “well the best of luck to you.You have what you want now, you have the headlines.”
Speaking to the Tribune afterwards the Cathaoirleach said he had spent a great deal of time “dealing with Cllr Masterson” since he had taken up the role of Chair, and it was “a completely unacceptable situation." Cllr Leahy said he is not against the Motion, "but Cllr Masterson spoke for six minutes and never read out her Motion. I asked her three times to read the Motion and stick to the issue. In relation to the comment that she is allegedly claiming, I have a Councillor who is willing to verify what I said in the Canteen. The Councillor was standing right behind Aoife and myself. Such a comment was never made by me.” Cllr Leahy pointed out that live streaming in other Councils is only taken up by small numbers of people. “In Kildare County Council, which has a population base much larger than Offaly's, the highest number of members of the public to connect via the internet link was only 18.”
Also speaking to the Tribune, Cllr Masterson said she was “very disappointed that my motion on the live streaming of Council meetings was not allowed to proceed to a vote yesterday. As I attempted to discuss in the meeting yesterday, I believe that live streaming is necessary now more than ever – both in terms of its importance in engaging those who feel disconnected from politics and in encouraging more women to become involved in politics. Nowhere is this more urgent than in Offaly – a county where we had the highest number of spoiled votes outside Dublin and where only five of our nineteen Councillors are women. Live streaming is already in place in many other Councils and yesterday's motion would have provided an entirely cost neutral way to do this in Offaly. This is a missed opportunity for a more open, transparent, and ultimately inclusive Council.”

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