Most of the Louth Councillors walked out of today’s monthly meeting of Louth County Council after Chief Executive Joan Martin refused requests from Cllr. Joanna Byrne to discuss the provision of a Rainbow Crossing for the Drogheda Pride parade which takes place on August 5th.
Councillor Byrne first proposed the temporary installation of a rainbow crossing, which has been provided by any other councils round the country, at the March Drogheda Borough Council meeting.
Her suggestion at that meeting that the Council install a rainbow crossing at the Tholsel to mark Drogheda Pride Festival was unceremoniously shot down by officials.
Councilor Byrne persisted with her request though, and at the April meeting she secured a commitment from the Council officials that they would install a rainbow crossing in the town, but not on a main road as originally requested
Director of Services Paddy Donnelly said the Council wanted to support her endeavours on securing this crossing in support of the LGBTQ Community and would be open to exploring venues that were not on main roads.
He gave a commitment that the Council will identify some possible locations for discussion that could potentially include St. Dominic’s Park or even Millmount as suggested by Cllr Byrne and told the meeting he would liaise with the Sinn Fein Councillor in the coming weeks. Millmount and Laurence’s Gate were two of the locations suggested.
The Council officials were still not happy with the idea of a crossing even though other Councils around the country had no problem with them.
It was then proposed that, instead of a rainbow crossing, giant DRAWDA letters, similar to the ones used at the Arts Festival but painted in the rainbow colours would be provided.
The Pride organising committee had reluctantly agreed to the DRAWDA letters idea but needed to know where they could be erected. They were hoping for Millmount where the Festival is launched every year.
In the meantime Councillors from Dundalk and then Ardee asked could they have something similar for their towns and the lines of communication went dead.
Last week Councillor Byrne was told in an email from a senior Council official that no agreement had been reached on the matter would not therefore be progressed.
When Councillor Byrne raised the matter at this morning’s Council meeting in Dundalk she sought an explanation from the Chief Executive Joan Martin but she refused to discuss the matter.
“She just sat there with her head down and refused to talk” Cllr. Byrne told Drogheda Life. “I told her that her behaviour was nothing short of ‘deplorable’.
“Chief Executive, not only have you undermined your own staff in overturning a public commitment they gave to provide a Rainbow crossing, you have also undermined your own word in providing the Rainbow letters instead, in turn undermining my word to the people of Drogheda and the LGBTQ Community which leads to undermining the working relationship between Council officials and Councillors.”
Councillor Byrne emphasised the delay in responding to her queries for the people she represents was not only “disrespectful but lacked good manners”.
Whilst some disagreement followed between Chief Executive Joan Martin and Cllr Byrne, other Councillors rallied to support Cllr Byrne in her plight to get answers and explanations from the top table. At which point the Chief Executive completely shut down, refusing to even acknowledge points and questions coming from all elected members, held her head down and stayed silent.
“I said that I don’t make life difficult for her but that I expect the same from her. I have to report back to the organising committee and all she could do was sit staring at the floor as did all the other officials present.”
Councillor Byrne got great support from all of the Councillors from every party and when her party colleague, Sinn Fein Councillor Kevin Meenan said there was no point everyone sitting there if nobody was listening or saying anything so a majority of the Councillors left the chamber and the meeting had to be abandoned as there was no longer a quorum.
