Government parties and Fianna Fail have both been accused of time wasting and delaying tactics in a bid to block emergency motions relating to the Household Charge in the Donegal Council chamber.
Sinn Fein Cllr Jack Murray had submitted a special motion that members instruct the County Manager not to use powers given to him in the Household Charge Act to identify non-payers through utility companies.
However, when strict standing orders were applied, he was left with less than a minute to move the motion, and was told after the meeting that it had not passed as it had not been put to the members in time.
Cllr Murray is accusing other councillors of filibustering, saying his motion was deliberately impeded:
Cllr John Campbell had tabled a number of questions about the resources being set aside for collecting the charge, but the meeting ended before those questions were answered.
He also moved an emergency motion calling on the county manager not to put resources in place to allow council officials go door to door as threatened at the weekend by Minister Phil Hogan, but the motion was deemed illegal.
He says he spoke afterwards to the manager, and it’s clear that’s not going to happen:
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