The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
A negotiating team representing the political parties and independents on the new 28-member Clare County Council will meet for the eighth time this Wednesday evening to try to broker an agreement on the rotation of the Mayor of Clare position. The situation must be resolved in this for the annual general meeting of the council on this Friday afternoon.
In the past, the post of Cathaoirleach of Clare County Council was retained within the majority party but for the past decade or so, the position [now mayor] has rotated among parties and independents.
The outgoing mayor, Joe Arkins lost his seat in the recent local elections, an outcome that was due in no small measure to the redrawing of the electoral areas.
It is understood that Fianna Fáil will have two terms and at the crux of the matter is how to strike a balance of sharing the role of mayor between the seven independent, joined with the one Sinn Féin councillor, and the eight Fine Gael councillors .
