14 July 2003: In his farewell speech, Deputy Emmet Stagg thanked his colleagues in the Council ‘who had said nice things about him’. “I am absolutely certain of the sincerity of their remarks,” he quipped.
He also thanked Council officials for the work they do as well as the elected members. He singled out Phil Hickey and Charlie Talbot for special praise.
The deputy said the election of Cllr Michael Fitzpatrick (FF) had been ‘predictable’ and wished the new deputy mayor Billy Hillis (FG) well.
He then suggested that an area be provided in the Council Chamber for visiting VIPs as provided elsewhere. He was aware of former FF Minister and County Councillor Paddy Power in the public gallery. That familiar voice then was heard to say: ‘I thought you were going to suggest Mountjoy!” to roars of laughter around the Chamber.
Deputy Stagg is to be replaced in the Council Chamber by Kevin Byrne from Celbridge.
“I have mixed emotions about today,” he said on Monday. “A bit relieved some of the work load will go, but I really enjoyed the cut and thrust of working here in the Council where you deliver decisions at the coal face.”
Contrary to what some people believe, he is NOT retiring from politics! “I haven’t gone away, you know! I’m going to be about for a while doing my clinics and am looking forward to working with the members of the Council and officials and staff for the coming years.” He lamented that the Council does not have an independent and buoyant sourse of funding for its own affairs.
“The essence of Local Government is that we should be able to call the tune ourselves! We have the most centralised system of Local Government in Europe. The staff operate within the law and the law dictates what they do. It’s the politicians that decide. There’s a danger that this Chamber could become a talking shop rather than a place where decisions are made. The manager is simply an instrument put there by politicians at central Government level.”
He went on: “The county manager can now make a waste management plan whether we like it or not! This waste management plan can supercede the County Development Plan and this Chamber will no longer be able to determine the level of charges for domestic refuse! The manager could not decide that unless elected politicians give him the power to do so.”
He was worried about that shift in power. “This Chamber should be about the exercising of power on behalf of the citizens we represent.”
In his farewell speech, Deputy Sean Power recalled that he was a member of the Oireachtas before being elected to Kildare County Council in the 1999 elections. He had been in ‘a very unique situation’ with his father and brother serving in the Council at the same time.
Although he was in the Council a relatively short time, he had enjoyed the experience, keeping in touch with developments and had established a very strong friendship with many councillors and staff. “Because of my time here, I will look on councillors in a much different light. They all bring a different talent to the Chamber,” he said.
Much to her amusement he singled out Cllr Catherine Murphy as a good example of a councillor to aspiring councillors saying they should look at the way she does her business.
“I am a wiser man leaving the Council than I was coming in and I want to thank you all for making that possible,” he concluded.
FF Cllr John O’Neill paid tribute to Deputy Stagg with whom he had ‘some very serious battles over the years’ and wished all departing councillors well in the future. Cllr Martin Miley (FF) said Deputy Stagg ‘has a good smile’ and they often enjoyed a good chat after debates. When Deputy Jack Wall had come on the Council, he said, ‘there was none better than him to help you out’.
Deputy Jack Wall was not present on his last day in the Council Chamber, having sent his apologies.
Deputy Sean O’Fearghail (FF) said Deputy Power had made an ‘enormous contribution’ to the working of the Fianna Fail party in the Council Chamber and Deputy Wall ‘has been a friend and colleague to all here’. The Chamber, he added, had been a much quieter place before the arrival of Deputy Stagg who ‘has enlivened the debate and has challenged us all, which is healthy’. He would be contemplating his own next step and is to give an indication of his own intentions in September.
Cllr Paul Kelly (FF) said the departure of three members on Monday, and possibly three more in September, will ‘be a big loss to the Council in terms of experience and expertise’. He said Deputy Stagg was a ‘very tenacious fighter for the rights of people and they will miss the incisive contribution he made and his ongoing battles with officials’.
He said Jack Wall was ‘a most courteous and decent Council member’ and Deputy Sean Power’s contributions were ‘always measured and laced with wit and were very practical’.
