A call has been made for a public inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of a Galway woman on the day she was due to be evicted last week.
The Mayor of Galway, Labour councillor Ms Catherine Connolly, has been accused by other members of the city council of acting inappropriately by discussing the matter on local radio before the woman's body had even been removed from the flat.
At last night's council meeting, Labour councillor Mr Tom Costello called for an independent inquiry into the handling of the case of Ms Bríd Cummins (48), who was found dead in her Munster Avenue flat last Monday.
He later agreed to withdraw the motion and await a report on the matter from the acting city manager, Mr Joe O'Neill, within the next 10 days.
Mr O'Neill said it was regrettable that the media was used to publicly criticise the manner in which Ms Cummins's case was handled by city council staff.
"This was grossly unfair and was in breach of the council's dignity at work policy . . . The criticism caused great distress and hurt to staff who had acted with great humanity and deserved better," he said.
Mr Michael Leahy (FF) said he was shocked to hear the mayor discussing Ms Cummins's death on local radio. "I suggest that she makes an expression of her regret and gives an undertaking to employ greater self-restraint in the future."
Mr Daniel Callanan (SF) said the anti-social behaviour policy had been agreed by the council and it was the officials' job to implement it. "I believe an inquiry should be carried out into what procedures were followed in this case, but not in any way as a witch-hunt against any public official," he said.
Ms Connolly said she was shocked at the death of Ms Cummins, which was needless in her opinion as there were other avenues other than eviction. "I have very little respect for the manner in which housing policy was enforced in this situation," the mayor said. "It lacked humanity and at the very least, we as councillors should learn from it. I have serious concerns about implications of such policies for other vulnerable tenants in this city."
