A bid to bridge a chasm in political representation for Donegal town is to be made at a special public meeting next week.

Town mayor Paul Keaney has called the meeting in the Central Hotel on Thursday week(July 16th) to attempt to prioritise issues for the town and establish how best to pursue them in the absence of an elected public representative.

For the first time in living memory the Donegal town/Mountcharles area has been left without a resident county councillor following the June 5th elections. Voting was spread so thinly between seven candidates that nobody was elected in the area.

Now Mr Keaney wants to ascertain if some liaison mechanism can be established whereby he and the community chamber can bring the needs of the town to the attention of members of the Donegal Electoral area.

He said: “Since the June 5th election quite a few people have approached me and the community chamber regarding the issue. We’re going to host a public meeting with a facilitator, an independent non-local person, to allow people express their feelings more openly and have their say as to how Donegal town goes forward during the next five years.”

Mr Keaney added: “This is an opportunity to see how the chamber and myself can play a more active role in the community. We’ve just had one of the greatest Summer festivals in Donegal where the community spirit was very evident and that is what we want to capture – community spirit and community development – and move forward.”

He said the plan is to have very regular meetings with the five councillors so any issues the townspeople may have can be brought to the appropriate level at the council hq in Lifford.

Mr Keaney said: “We’re not taking over the role of the councillors. We just want to be a vehicle to relay what the town wants to those councillors and relay what we want over the next five years.”

He said it could very well be that a liaison committee will emerge from next week’s public meeting set to start at 8 p.m.