Fine Gael councillors to seek council vote on cancelled Christmas crib

Fine Gael will seek to overturn a decision by Dublin’s Lord Mayor to cancel this year’s nativity crib at a city council meeting tomorrow night if a resolution is not found beforehand.

Cllr James Geoghegan, Fine Gael’s Group Leader on Dublin City Council, is seeking a meeting with Lord Mayor Deirdre Conroy ahead of tomorrow night’s crunch meeting where an emergency motion on the Mansion House crib will be considered.

If a resolution cannot be found, Fine Gael will put the issue before a full meeting of Dublin City Council tomorrow.

“We hope that having listened to the weight of public opinion, including from the Dublin Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (DSPCA) and Fionn Sherlock, the Enniskerry farmer, who supplies the animals every year, that the Lord Mayor can see sense on this decision,” Cllr Geoghegan said.

“At the very least, the general public are entitled to know the actual reasons for why school children will not get the opportunity to see live animals like they have every other year.

“The Lord Mayor has never stated that animal welfare is the motivation for her decision and yet other councillors from the Green Party are saying that is exactly why the ban has been put in place.

“The National Animal Rights Association, a group which believes wool should be banned, advocate for a boycott of Dublin Zoo and campaign to ban all forms of fishing, have expressed support for the Lord Mayor’s decision. The DSPCA, however, who are responsible for the animals’ care, view the live-animal crib as an event which promotes animal welfare amongst city children.

“The Green Party seem to be listening only to those who are a fringe-element of this debate, rather than acting in the interests of all the citizens of Dublin, and across the country, who come and enjoy this tradition every year,” Cllr Geoghegan said.

In recent days, the Fine Gael group has reached out to some ex-Lord Mayor’s on Dublin City Council and have been assured of their support. The support of others is being sought this weekend.

“I think this reflects the broadly held view by all elected members that cancelling the live-crib was a huge mistake and that’s why we have tabled our motion for Monday’s meeting in the hope that some form of compromise can be found,” Cllr Geoghegan said.

Notes:

FINE GAEL EMERGENCY MOTION

That the elected members of Dublin City Council;

• while recognising the right of the Lord Mayor to exercise her discretion to cancel the 30 year tradition of hosting a live animal crib at the Mansion House;
• urge the Lord Mayor to reconsider, and listen to the Dublin Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (DSPCA) who expressed its disappointment at the decision, noting that it would deprive inner-city children a rare opportunity to see live farm animals.
• ask the Lord Mayor to engage with the farmer Fionn Sherlock, of Enniskerry in Co Wicklow who provided the animals for the live crib and the IFA with a view to finding a compromise solution that would maintain the live-animal crib in some form

LETTER TO LORD MAYOR

From: Cllr James Geoghegan
Sent: 04 November 2022 17:25
To: lordmayor@dublincity.ie
Cc:
Subject: Live Animal Crib – Request for meeting & Emergency Motion

Dear Lord Mayor,

Firstly, as group leader of Fine Gael, we have discussed the matter internally and our preference is that these issues would not have to be dealt with by way of a contentious motion or debate.

We are therefore requesting a meeting with you, with a view to seeing whether a compromise on the live-crib can be found. We are available to meet either in person or on zoom between now and the council meeting on Monday.

Separately, the Fine Gael councillors on Dublin City Council submit the following emergency motion.

That the elected members of Dublin City Council;

• while recognising the right of the Lord Mayor to exercise her discretion to cancel the 30 year tradition of hosting a live animal crib at the Mansion House;
• urge the Lord Mayor to reconsider, and listen to the Dublin Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (DSPCA) who expressed its disappointment at the decision, noting that it would deprive inner-city children a rare opportunity to see live farm animals.
• ask the Lord Mayor to engage with the farmer Fionn Sherlock, of Enniskerry in Co Wicklow who provided the animals for the live crib and the IFA with a view to finding a compromise solution that would maintain the live animal crib in some form.

Compliance with Standing Order 35

We recognise that it is your decision whether or not to put this emergency motion before the City Council for consideration and that this must be done in accordance with standing orders.

In our opinion to the breath of public reaction to the decision to cancel the live-animal crib for reasons that have not been fully elaborated upon, do meet the “seriousness” threshold and it is clearly unexpected given the 30 year tradition of hosting the live-animal crib. This motion cannot be dealt with in any other way because of time constraint between this meeting and when the live animal crib is ordinarily installed.

Suspensory Motion under Standing Order 63

If the Lord Mayor does not accept the Fine Gael emergency motion should be put before the City Council, we will seek to suspend standing orders, if or when such a decision is made, to enable our motion to be voted on. We will propose that such a suspensory motion be treated as a proxy-vote on the substance of the motion itself to ensure the regular business of the council agenda is not unnecessarily interrupted but that the express views of the elected members on this issue are recorded.

Support of ex-Lord Mayors

As a group we have engaged informally with a number of ex Lord Mayors across the political spectrum who are sitting councillors from Sinn Féin, Labour and the Independents and we have been assured of their full support with our motion. Again, this reflects the cross-party views that exist on this issue.

If at any time you indicate you willingness to change your mind or compromise, we will immediately withdraw our motion.

Yours sincerely,

Cllr James Geoghegan, Group Leader – Fine Gael