This article is from page 9 of the 2012-09-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 9 JPG
CIVIL disobedience is a civil right of people in Clare – that’s the banner being waved by one public representative in Clare this week who is embarking on a crusade to have the practice enshrined into the practices and procedures of a local authority.
Outspoken Shannon Town Council member Cathy McCafferty will launch her campaign at a monthly meeting of the council in Shannon Town Hall on Tuesday by way of a notice of motion that will be up for discussion and consideration by the nine-member authority.
Cllr McCafferty made the headlines earlier this year after publicly falling out with the Sinn Féin party she had represented on Shannon Town Council, being initially suspended from the party before then resigning her membership altogether.
The exact details of her fall-out with Sinn Féin, both locally and with the party hierarchy in Dublin, was never publicly disclosed as the both party and politician went their separate ways. In the wake of her resignation from the party, Sinn Féin demanded that she live up to the party pledge to resign her seat on Shannon Town Council. However, Cllr McCafferty stuck to her guns and declared herself an independent.
Now, the independent has come up with a maverick stand of calling on her eight fellow councillors, headed by Mayor Michael Fleming, to back her controversial motion. While it’s expected that her fellow councillors will support her call for “the right of every citizen of this Republic to engage in peaceful protest”, it’s unclear whether they will back her right that they also be allowed engage in “civil disobedience”.
Cllr McCafferty was unavailable for comment when contacted by The Clare People on Monday.