Fine Gael Council leader resigns in Monaghan over pylons

The Fine Gael leader on Monaghan County Council Hughie McElvaney resigned from the party on Monday night at a public meeting of the Monaghan Anti-Pylon Committee in the Glencarn Hotel, Castleblayney.

He said his resignation was in protest at the way his party and Minister Heather Humphreys have dealt with the North/South Electricity Interconnector issue in Cavan and Monaghan. Though the Minister, subsequently speaking to the Celt, defended her position on the matter.

Cllr McElvaney’s resignation was greeted with a very long applause of support from the 250/300 people present from Cavan and Monaghan. He is understood to be the longest serving Fine Gael councillor in the country with 40 years of service. During the meeting, he handed back his Fine Gael membership card to Deputy Sean Conlon and asked him to give it back to the Taoiseach.

Central to his reason for resigning from the Fine Gael party at Monday night’s Anti-Pylon Committee meeting, Cllr Hughie McElvaney claimed, was that Minister Heather Humphreys had ignored a request to meet both the committee and Monaghan County Council on the pylons issue - an assertion denied by his party colleague Minister Humphreys.

Cllr McElvaney also accused the government of refusing to intervene in the concerns of the people in the North East as regards undergrounding power lines similar to what’s happening in the Taoiseach’s own constituency and the west. He also queried why existing pylons could not be used to upgrade the network, such as has been announced for the South East.

He detailed that the Anti Pylon Committee had brought forward its meeting from November 30 in an effort to facilitate the minister.

However, Fine Gael then rescheduled a constituency meeting to Monday night to co-opt a new councillor to replace Cllr Eugene Bannigan who resigned recently. Cllr McElvaney claims this was to give Minister Humphreys an excuse not to face the people on the issue.

 

'Scandalous’

“I have been a Fine Gael councillor for 40 years and have defended my party’s actions through thick and thin but this carry-on is just scandalous. This Minister has danced the hokey cokey to avoid meeting the anti pylon committee and those of us representing them on Monaghan County Council.

“The way the Minister from this area is avoiding meeting those of her constituents who are concerned about the pylon issue is nothing short of disgraceful.

“In all my years in politics, I have never came across such barefaced arrogance especially against those who elected her in the first place.

“I am ashamed to be a member of a party whose Minister treats people like this; ashamed to be a representative of a senior government party, which ignores the Constitution, which states that all citizens should be treated equally and then changes the rules in conjunction with Eirgrid to suit the West and South East, while we in Monaghan and the North East are treated as second class citizens,” he said.

Cllr McElvaney says he will remain on Monaghan County Council as an independent member for the Clones electoral area and also intends to stay as Cathaoirleach of the Ballybay/Clones Municipal District.

 

Voted down

The Minister’s private secretary Sarah Meade was in attendance at the meeting and attempted to read out a statement from the Minister.

Even the Fine Gael Councillors Aiden Campbell and David Maxwell who were present did not vote for Ms Meade to read out the statement when the meeting voted unanimously to reject it.

 

Minister fights back

The Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Heather Humphreys, has denied accusations that she ignored the Anti-Pylon Committee.

Speaking to the Celt yesterday (Tuesday), following Cllr McElvaney’s resignation, she said: “I have attended numerous meetings held by the Anti Pylon Committee, so it is inaccurate to say I have refused to meet them.”

Minister Humphreys further explained that the Monday night meeting clashed with both the launch of the Cavan 2016 centenary programme and the Fine Gael convention in the Ballybay Clones/District.

“I was not consulted regarding the setting of the date of the Anti Pylon meeting, as I would have made every effort to attend,” she said, emphasising that she is happy to meet with the committee at a mutually convenient time.

“I have been in touch with the Committee Chair this morning to offer a meeting,” said Minister Humphreys.

On the issue of pylons, she said: “I fully understand the concerns of the families on whose land these pylons are proposed or who are adjacent to them. I have visited a number of sites and saw first-hand why this is such an emotive issue and I also arranged for officials from my Department to visit the area prior to making a submission to an Bord Pleanala.”

Minister Humphreys defended her record, and that of her Oireachtas colleagues, in representing the concerns of landowners at every opportunity.

“My Department has made a very detailed and comprehensive submission to An Bord Pleanala outlining a number of issues that need to be addressed by Eirgrid and I understand that it is being treated by an Bord Pleanala as a priority submission,” she said.

Referring back to Monday night’s meeting, Minister Humphreys said that Nigel Hillis described her Department submission as “strong”.

A copy of the submission is available for anyone to view at Monaghan County Council.

“Contrary to some comments that have been made, I am continuing to work on behalf of those affected by Eirgird’s proposals,” she said.