Dollard row and budget "the last straws" for Doran

On Friday last, the Green Party"s only elected representative in Westmeath sensationally resigned from the party in protest against cutbacks in the recent Budget.Betty Doran, a former county councillor, also quit her seat on Mullingar Town Council after failing to win her colleagues" support in a continuing row over Chairman, Cllr. Mick Dollard"s military service record.Ms. Doran said that she had been contacted by Green Party leader and the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, John Gormley T.D. last week, after he heard about growing disquiet among Westmeath Greens over the party"s support for recent budget cuts.'I asked him if those in charge of the Green Party had lost touch with reality,' the Wexford native told the Westmeath Examiner after her announcement on Friday morning, referring to the Greens" support for budget cuts in education, and the parliamentary party"s recent support for the Lisbon Treaty.'When the Greens went into Government with Fianna Fáil last year, I remember saying to the former party leader, Trevor Sargent that they must be prepared to take the flak when the economy starts to take a dive.'I would imagine that our fiscal situation is much more dire than any of us understand, and in the midst of this we"ve seen this savage and hurried Budget, in which old people were used as whipping boys for the health services.'Ms. Doran said that while her dissatisfaction with the Budget was the main reason for her announcement, her decision to withdraw from Mullingar Town Council is down to her unwillingness to sit on a body chaired by Cllr. Mick Dollard.'I cannot attend any more meetings of the Town Council and address that human being as Cathaoirleach,' she said in a bitter parting shot levelled at her former Labour colleague.Cllr. Doran, along with Independent councillor Frank McIntyre, confronted Cllr. Dollard with documents and newspaper cuttings last month which they said showed that he had never served in the Congo, Lebanon or the Golan Heights, as they said he had claimed in the past.However, at last week"s meeting of Mullingar Town Council, they failed to win support from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael councillors in a bid to force Cllr. Dollard to resign.'I can say that I stood firm on the side of honesty and integrity,' Ms. Doran said on Friday. 'And I can also say that those who sat on their hands and gave in sold out our Congo veterans.'The Newbrook Drive resident was supported by her husband Christy - a U.N. veteran - at last week"s fiery meeting, and later that night they discussed the option of resignation with their daughter, Lorna, who is home from Australia at present.Early on Friday morning, she announced her decision to resign from both the Green Party and Mullingar Town Council.'Barring a miracle, I won"t be running for the elections in June. I"ll be 62 next September, and I"m not ashamed to say my age, unlike other people,' she remarked, in a thinly-veiled quip directed at Cllr. Dollard.'I have lots of things I want to do, if the Lord spares me to do them, and while it might be the end of Betty Doran the politician, but not Betty Doran the citizen.'I hope Sean Corrigan will be running on the Green ticket for the next local elections, and I would be proud to support Frank McIntyre and people of that calibre who may be running for the Town Council.'So what lies ahead for Betty Doran?'I intend to spend a month or two with my son Christopher in Spain, to pass the winter. I had a life before politics. I was always self-sufficient, and I never needed politics to make me a whole person,' she said.Ms. Doran was co-opted to a Labour seat on Mullingar Town Council in 1992. She successfully defended this seat in the 1999 and 2004 local elections, and was also elected to Westmeath County Council in 1999.However, after five years on the county body, she lost her seat when Labour ran a third candidate, Cllr. Detty Cornally, in her Mullingar West heartland. After sitting on the Town Council as an Independent for a number of years, she joined the Green Party, and picked up almost a thousand first preference votes on the Green ticket in last year"s general election.Prior to her venture into politics, Ms. Doran had built up a reputation as a popular and hard-working volunteer in a number sporting and community groups in Mullingar.The destiny of her Town Council seat - which was won for Labour in 2004 - is unknown at this time.