Democracy denied

Once again we have seen over the last week the wheeling and dealing going on behind closed doors and tonight will see the continuation of the 30 year old pact between Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Labour Party. This pact determines not only who will wear the Lord Mayor's chain for the next five years, but the membership and chairmanship of every City Council and nomination of members to external bodies.

Tonight instead of a democratic election at City Hall, representing the new composition of the City Council, we will see the same old anti-democratic pact in action. The outcome is a foregone conclusion and was decided not in the June 5th election but in secretive meetings between the three biggest parties with the view to excluding all others as much as possible from committees even though those "others" now make up 30% of the council.

The leader of the Labour Party Eamon Gilmore has very publicly sought to distance his party from Fianna Fáil and present his party as a radical alternative to Brian Cowen's party yet here in Cork we will see 7 Labour Party councillors voting with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael tonight to exclude left-wing councillors from committees and ensuring the election of Fianna Fáil councillors instead. So much for a radicalised Labour Party.

As an elected councillor I will actively oppose not only this undemocratic pact, but the continuing waste of public money on junkets and extravagance at a time when the City Council has cut back on key services in order to save money.