DISGRACED MONAGHAN COUNCILLOR Hugh McElvaney has been told to step down from the local authority in a vote this evening.
However, he remains in his role tonight – and no further movement on the issue is expected until an investigation being undertaken by the Council concludes.
The veteran local representative was secretly recorded asking for £10,000 from a reporter posing as a businesswoman as part of an RTÉ documentary broadcast on Monday of last week.
In one now-infamous exchange with ‘Nina’, who was seeking help with a wind farm project, he advised:
If it’s not successful for you, then I’m out of the equation. But if it is successful for you, I want loads of money.
Speaking to local radio station Northern Sound on the day of the broadcast McElvaney claimed he was only playing along with the journalist because he knew from the outset that someone was trying to dupe him.
“I lured her into my trap,” he insisted.
This evening’s special meeting of Monaghan County Council was arranged last week in response to the revelations.
McElvaney himself read out a statement at the start of the meeting, before leaving the room. He again defending his position, insisting he knew what was happening all along.
Sinn Féin councillor Pat Treanor then proposed that the local authority seek his resignation, due to a breach in their code of ethics.
The motion was eventually passed by a margin of 13 for and nil against. There were three abstentions.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie this evening, Councillor Treanor said tonight’s vote was as far as the authority was empowered to go.
“The ball is in his court now,” he added.
The mood of the meeting was sombre, he said, adding that councillors felt they were all brought into disrepute by the content of the RTÉ Investigates programme.
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