History set to be made at Cork City Hall with deal close for Green Party to secure its first lord mayor

CORK looks set to have its first Green Lord Mayor, with negotiations to decide the running of Cork City Council over the next five years described as “a done deal” by most of those involved.

According to multiple sources, an alliance has been agreed between Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the Green Party and the Labour Party.

However, the leader of Fine Gael in City Hall sounded a note of caution on Tuesday evening, saying the deal had yet to be finalised.

The agreement, if formally signed, would see the lord mayoralty passing, over the next five years, between two Fianna Fáil councillors, one Fine Gael councillor, one Green and one Labour.

Fianna Fáil gained two seats at the local elections two weeks ago, giving them nine seats, while Fine Gael lost two, giving them five, the Greens have three seats, and Labour, which gained two seats, has three.

With 31 seats in the council, 16 votes would give a slender majority, but it is understood that both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are anxious to have a large enough majority to cushion against sudden shocks.

With Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the Greens and Labour working together, they would have a combined majority of 20.

It is understood that the lord mayoralty would first go to the Green Party’s Dan Boyle, followed by Fianna Fáil’s Fergal Dennehy, Fine Gael’s Garret Kelleher, Fianna Fáil’s Mary Rose Desmond, with the Labour Party’s John Maher lord mayor in the fifth and final year of the council term.

Each party would have a deputy lord mayor, and it is understood that Mr Boyle’s deputy will be the newly elected Green councillor Honore Kamegni, who came to Ireland as a refugee from Cameroon in 2002.

Additionally, Fianna Fáil would chair three special policy committees (SPCs), Fine Gael two, and the Greens and Labour would co-chair the remaining sixth SPC.

Mr Boyle said he had been a councillor for 16 years, and it had been 33 years since he had first been elected to the council.

“I feel I would bring a certain experience to the role of lord mayor, but I am conscious that I will need the support of at least 15 other councillors to fill that role,” he said.

The new lord mayor is expected to be formally elected at the annual general meeting of Cork City Council, which will take place on Friday evening.

One person with knowledge of the negotiations described them as “very cordial but very difficult”.

Fianna Fáil councillor Terry Shannon, who was part of his party’s negotiating team, said on Tuesday evening that the arrangement was a “done deal”.

“In every democratic chamber, you have to get together like-minded people who are willing to work together for the greater good,” Mr Shannon said.

“We’re elected to run the city and we have to have a lord mayor. We’ve put together a very good civic alliance, and others are welcome to join us.” However, Des Cahill, Fine Gael’s leader in City Hall, said on Tuesday night that the deal had not been finalised.

“I have yet to be convinced that [this deal] is the right fit.

“I am confident that it will be resolved by Friday, but only time will tell whether my conviction is correct,” he said.

It is understood that the Green Party, the Labour Party and the Social Democrats’ Pádraig Rice will form a technical group in City Hall, giving it access to whips’ meetings and a say in the running of council business, although Mr Rice will not be part of the agreement which will run local government in the city for the next five years.

Mr Maher said he and his recently elected Labour colleagues Peter Horgan and Laura Harmon had made a difficult decision, but had done so because they had been elected to represent their constituents.

“We were elected to do the very best job we can for the city that we love and the people who trusted us with their votes and that’s what we are going to do,” he said.

Sinn Féin councillor Kenneth Collins said there had been some negotiations between his party and Fianna Fáil but he felt those discussions had “never been serious”.

“We’re bitterly disappointed, because we were all elected to represent the city and I can’t believe that new Labour councillors, elected on a promise of change, have instead turned the clock back 15 years to the pact of the bad old days,” he said.