A vote to fill the Dublin City Council seat left vacant following the death of charity chief executive Anthony Flynn six months ago is to go-ahead on Monday night following several controversial deferrals.
The nomination of a long-time volunteer with the now wound-up charity, Inner City Helping Homeless (ICHH) is being mooted as the preferred candidate to fill the seat of the late councillor and charity CEO at the Council’s monthly meeting.
A group of Independent councillors are nominating Geraldine Molloy, a former well-known volunteer with the charity to fill the late councillor’s seat.
However, there is not a cross-party consensus to back her bid so sources who will be attending the meeting say “it is a slap in the face of democracy if a woman is not elected.
“If Molloy is not voted to take the seat it will be the first time that such a tactic has been carried out to block a person for so long.”
The vote has been blocked three times since the late councillor’s death.
Independent councillor Cieran Perry has slammed the Government parties blocking Ms Molloy’s nomination and said it’s a continuation of the arrogance shown by Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Greens in Government, the very same parties are now attempting to dictate who gets to represent the local community in the north inner city.
“The tragic death of councillor Anthony Flynn has left a vacant seat on Dublin City Council for the last six months.
“The group of community activists who had him elected in 2019 have selected Geraldine Molloy to fill the seat.
“Geraldine has the support of the Flynn family and both local Independent councillors, Christy Burke and Niall Ring,” said Cllr Perry.
“Geraldine is a local working class woman and a community volunteer in her local area. She was a voluntary worker with Inner City Helping Homeless specialising in supporting homeless persons experiencing mental health issues and has won awards as a community worker.
“Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, the Greens and the Social Democrats have been blocking a working class female volunteer from representing her community for the last six months.
“The community in the north inner city have been deprived of a councillor to represent the area for too long and this cannot continue.
“The north inner city continues to be one of the most disadvantaged areas in the country and deserves to have the full complement of councillors working for the community.”
Garda investigation
It had been expected that Ms Molloy would fill the seat last October, however, senior council officials briefed councillors advising them not to go ahead with the vote due to a Garda investigation surrounding alleged activities of Anthony Flynn.
Mr Flynn, 35, was found dead at his home in August. He had been under investigation by Gardaí in relation to two allegations of sexual assault.
Several weeks later another two men claimed they had also been sexually assaulted by Mr Flynn.
The charity was set-up in 2013 by the late Mr Flynn, along with several other volunteers, to provide outreach services to homeless people in Dublin city.
It is common practice that if a political party vacates a council seat, they have the right to nominate a candidate to fill it. The late councillor had failed to nominate an individual to fill his seat despite being advised to by council officials to do so.
Three months ago a High Court judge granted a petition from the Charities Regulator for the winding up of the operating company of the charity.
Mr Justice Brian O’Moore noted the petition to wind up the company was “very unusual”, as it was solvent with a net asset surplus of €850,000. However, in making the orders, he said the company's governance creates an “ongoing challenge”.
The judge praised the work done by ICHH’s volunteers, which he said “verges on the heroic”.
It is now feared by several councillors due to attend the meeting that the seat “will be left vacant” until the next local elections in 2024.
Cllr Perry added: “We constantly hear calls for more women to become active in politics and for supports to be put in place to attract women to public life.
“The north inner city constituency is a perfect example of the lack of women involved in politics. We currently have only two female councillors out of seven, less than 30 per cent.
“It’s absolutely unacceptable that councillors of the Government parties are willing to deny a working class woman an opportunity to have her voice, and that of her community, heard.”
