Galway City Council descended into acrimonious name-calling on Monday evening with chief executive, Brendan McGrath, describing one councillor’s comments as “bulls**t”.
Mr McGrath, who was attending his final meeting as head of Galway City Council before his retirement, made the comments after being interrupted by Cllr Alan Cheevers (Fianna Fáil).
Mr McGrath had been responding to a motion from Cllr Cheevers, calling for the monthly meetings of the local authority to return to Galway City Hall.
Meetings of Galway City Council have been held in rented hotel conference rooms since the outbreak of Covid-19.
Mr McGrath reacted when Cllr Cheevers interrupted him, repeating the word “waffle” as the chief executive was speaking.
The meeting heard that a new ventilation system, which would make Galway City Hall safe to use, would cost up to €2 million to purchase and install.
Galway City Council is expected to move from its current premises on College Road to the Crown Square office block in Mervue in 2024 – a move that is expected to cost the local authority in excess of €56 million.
Mr McGrath said that he has a duty of care to his employees and he would not put the health of his staff in jeopardy by moving the meetings back to Galway City Hall.
“I’ve always, in my time with the council, tried to give you the best advice and comment, and I am not changing that approach now, even in my last meeting,” he said.
“I would love to be back in City Hall. It’s a hell of a lot easier to walk down the hall to attend a meeting, but by going back there, you are going back to a venue that is not fit for purpose.
“I don’t think I could let staff go back into that setting. I have a duty of care to staff. By all means disagree with me, but you are shooting the messenger.
“I don’t mind what decision you make as councillors, it is your decision. I would not recommend that you [councillors] or the staff go back into a room where the air handling system is not fit for purpose.
“I would not, under any circumstances, recommend up to €1 million be spent on a [ventilation] system and up to €1 million to install that system.”
Mr McGrath committed to providing the elected members of the council with a breakdown of how much the local authority has spent on renting hotel conference rooms since the beginning of the pandemic.
Cllr Cheevers later apologised to Mr McGrath and withdrew his “waffle” comment. The Fianna Fáil councillor did proceed with his motion, calling for meetings of the local authority to return to Galway City Hall.
“I will apologise to the chief executive for my outburst, but I do think we need to get back to City Hall, and I feel passionate about that,” he said.
Cllr Cheevers’s motion was superseded by an amendment by Mayor of Galway, Clodagh Higgins (Fine Gael), which called for a detailed report to be provided to councillors before they voted on whether to move their monthly meetings back to Galway City Hall. This amendment was carried by a majority of councillors.
Before the close of the meeting, councillors paid tribute to Mr McGrath for his 47 years of service to local government.
“It would be remiss of me and the council not to thank Brendan McGrath. Sometimes we didn’t agree with him, but I think he did everything he could to move this city forward. I think we should finish on a positive note and wish Brendan and his family the very best in his retirement,” said Cllr Declan McDonnell (Independent).
