Councillors walk out of meeting over public pay dispute

Ten Cork city councillors walked out of Monday's council meeting in support of public sector workers engaged in a work-to-rule over pay.

The councillors left shortly after 5pm, arguing that remaining at the meeting would breach union directions, as council staff were being required to work beyond their normal hours.

Cork City Council is one of only two local authorities in Ireland, alongside Dublin City Council, that routinely holds full council meetings in the evening, requiring staff to stay late to facilitate the meetings.

The monthly council meeting was brought forward to 3.30pm as opposed to its usual 5pm start time.

However it was scheduled to run to 5.30pm, half an hour past rostered hours for council staff who attend the meeting.

Sinn Féin councillor Kenneth Collins said his party “would not cross a picket line in Cork City Council. We stand fully with public sector workers.” 

He acknowledged that  “there is important business to do at the council meeting” and that they tried to get the meeting scheduled to accommodate the work-to-rule instructions from unions. However, this did not happen.

Labour’s Peter Horgan said: “We in Labour stand in solidarity with the work to rule. It is incumbent on Government to resolve this issue now.” 

In addition to the four Sinn Féin and three Labour members, councillors from the Social Democrats, People Before Profit-Solidarity, and the Workers' Party also departed early.

The earlier start time meant the meeting was hybrid, with multiple councillors tuning in online. However, this meant proceedings could not be livestreamed as usual, so votes had to be conducted by roll call instead of the normal electronic voting system.

City council meetings usually last at least four hours, the two-hour-hard limit on Monday led to tensions between councillors and Lord Mayor Damian Boylan, who is responsible for keeping the meeting within its time limit.