Ancestors may have fought against each other in Civil War, but if last Friday’s first official meeting of Westmeath County Council was anything to go by, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have ‘married’ in Westmeath.
There may have been some mud slinging on the election campaign trail, but Civil War politics was parked with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael bedding themselves in a voting pact, which now sees Fianna Fáil taking the position of Cathaoirleach and Leas-Cathaoirleach, while the lone ranger on the former Council, Cllr. Kevin Boxer Moran (Independent), now has a partner in Cllr. Michael (Mick) O’Brien. Cllr. O’Brien quit Fianna Fail after their Selection Convention when he lost out to former Westmeath County Councillor Tom Allen, who lost his seat in the election. They sat in the benches next to the Sinn Féin Party Members, Cllr. Paul Hogan, Cllr. Sorca Clarke and Cllr. Una D’Arcy.
