![\"Cathaoirleach](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/68064e90-d568-498b-8b8d-7c70e0b90465.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIn the chamber on Monday afternoon, during the traditional round of congratulations to all those who had excelled in Co Wexford over the past month, Cllr Vicky Barron offered her praised to all those who had commemorated International Women\u2019s Day, in particular those at Wexford Women\u2019s Refuge where Cllr Barron is the current chair. <\/p>\n
\u201cOn the day we had a presentation on online abuse and consent, including information on how to respond when you\u2019re told no,\u201d recounted Cllr Barron. \u201cThe understanding of men and boys around consent is especially important in the current climate, conversations around consent are really important, those conservations need to be had in this chamber.\u201d<\/p>\n
Referencing a motion she had jointly submitted with Cllr Brid\u00edn Murphy in November of last, Cllr Barron said she had already asked for councillors to receive training on how to recognise domestic, sexual and gender-based violence.<\/p>\n
“That still hasn\u2019t progressed,\u201d she noted. \u201cThis is important work, considering the current climate. It is not okay to touch anyone, the legal definition of assault is touching anyone without consent, sexual assault is defined as . . .\u201d<\/p>\n
At this point, noises of disapproval began to emanate from the top table with Cllr Sullivan asking whether Cllr Barron was \u201cstraying away from the the topic\u201d at hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cI respectully ask that you give me my five minutes,\u201d came the response.<\/p>\n
That request was eventually granted but only after all congratulations had been issued.<\/p>\n
Five minutes later, Cllr Barron resumed. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe did ask for training to be delivered for councillors in relation to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, we still haven\u2019t had that,\u201d she said. \u201cI asked for it to be progressed, and we need to include all staff of WCC in this. We need to understand our limits as county councillors; many of us don\u2019t have offices so there has to be an understanding of where we meet. These meetings happen everywhere, and, whether we like it or not, there\u2019s a code of ethics which accompanies us.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was as far as Cllr Barron got as, on this occasion, she was firmly stopped in her tracks. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Cathaoirleach of Wexford County Council, Cllr Joe Sullivan. Photo: Jim Campbell<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to adjourn for ten minutes,\u201d announced Cllr Sullivan. \u201cI want to meet the whips from each party and have a short word.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis needs to be addressed and you are silencing me,\u201d protested Cllr Barron above the ensuing din. Support came from Cllr Lisa McDonald who argued that \u201cclosing down debate like this is not fair\u201d.<\/p>\n
However, the cathaoirleach was not for turning and he swiftly departed the scene, accompanied by the chief executive, Cllrs Anthony Donohue (FG), Pip Breen (FF), John O\u2019Rourke (IND), Tom Forde (SF), Pat Barden (Wexford Independent Alliance), Cllr Barron herself, and county secretary Michael Drea.<\/p>\n
After an extended break which lasted over 20 minutes and had senior members checking the record books for similar instances, Cllr Sullivan returned and the meeting commenced. <\/p>\n
The chair immediately called upon Cllr Barron to carry on where she had left off. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat motion needs to be followed up on and consent needs to apply to both men and women,\u201d she continued. \u201cIt\u2019s important we as a council are seen to promote open and honest transparency in all we do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThanks very much, Vicky,\u201d replied Cllr Sullivan.<\/p>\n
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the chamber on Monday afternoon, during the traditional round of congratulations to all those who had excelled…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":345646,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,920,112],"class_list":["post-345645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-simon-bourke","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}