Interesting developments in Dublin City Council where Sinn Fein is now the largest single party by some way, and worth keeping an eye on. They are already falling out over the setting of budgets (which SF has never had to do all on its own before, so this is new territory for them)…
Although it is expected that independent councillor Christy Burke will be elected Lord Mayor this evening, there is now no agreement on passing budgets and appointments for the next five years.
The Fianna Fáil group is meeting later this afternoon but is expected to also pull out of the all-party negotiations.
Sinn Féin, as the largest single party on the council, is expected to now try to come to an agreement with Labour, independents and the Greens.
Fine Gael group leader councillor Kieran Binchy said the red line issue for his eight elected members was a commitment to pass budgets for the next five years without increasing commercial rates or property tax.
He said there was not sufficient commitment from other parties including Sinn Féin.
“Anyone can pass a budget by raising taxes. We want to protect jobs by not increasing rates and ease the burden on Dublin residents by not increasing the property tax…
The woman next door says her husband is self-employed “and it’s nothing but tax, tax, tax. I think if Sinn Féin get in they might make it easier for the self-employed.” Lynn agrees.
Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
Discover more from Slugger O'Toole
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
