LEFT OUT. That was the dramatic conclusion on Monday to one of the most unpredictable Mayoral elections for several years as the Labour Party councillors rejected an historic opportunity to form an alliance of Left wing parties, opting instead to team up with Fine Gael and Fianna Fail in a controversial pact which will control the new Borough Council during its five year term.

The decision to include Fianna Fail, whose two members make up the smallest party representation on the council, was taken late on Sunday night after Labour had rejected overtures from Sinn Fein and Independent councillor, Declan Bree to form a Left alliance, and turned instead to Fine Gael.

This grouping had initially invited Clr. Bree to join their alliance, which would have given them the required seven votes and would, therefore, have eliminated the need to do business with Fianna Fail.

But when Clr. Bree stood by his conviction that an alliance of the Left was the most desirable alignment from his point of view, the Fine Gael/Labour group then contacted a surprised but delighted Fianna Fail, who could scarcely believe their luck at being included in a power-sharing arrangement after taking an unprecedented electoral pounding.

The deal was only clinched in the early hours of Monday morning, with less than 12 hours to spare, after a week of intensive cross-party negotiations.

Clr. Bree was first into field with his proposal for a Left alliance, as exclusively revealed in last week's SLIGO CHAMPION.

It's understood he wrote to both Sinn Fein and Labour on the Monday following the election. This correspondence was followed up by a meeting between Clr. Bree, the three Sinn Fein members and the three Labour councillors last Wednesday, at which the concept of a Civic Charter, which had been put together by the Sinn Fein members and Clr. Bree, was first discussed.

That meeting ended without agreement, but a further meeting was planned for the following day, Thursday. This meeting was subsequently cancelled because one of the Labour councillors was unable to attend.

According to our information, outgoing Labour Mayor, Clr. Veronica Cawley then invited Clr. Bree to a meeting last Friday, at which Fine Gael senior member, Clr. Tony McLoughlin was also present. Clr. McLoughin, it's understood, invited Clr. Bree to team up with a Fine Gael/Labour alliance.

Clr. Cawley apparently indicated at that meeting that Labour had not yet decided on its attitude to the formation of a Left alliance.

Over these days, Sinn Fein had also been attempting without success to ascertain the Labour party's position.

On Saturday, Clr. Bree emailed Mayor Cawley, who later that day telephoned Clr. Sean MacManus of Sinn Fein to formally inform him that her party was going to deal with Fine Gael. Subsequently, Clr. Bree was again invited to meet with Clr. Cawley and Clr. McLaughlin.

That meeting took place on Sunday morning, at which it was confirmed that Labour and Fine Gael would be forming an alliance. Again, Clr. Bree was asked to participate. He indicated he would not be inclined to do so, but consulted with a team of supporters, before officially confirming his position to the Mayor on Sunday evening, saying he felt he would be betraying his supporters if he agreed to enter into an alliance with Fine Gael.

The Labour/Fine Gael alliance then had no option but to contact a slightly bemused Fianna Fail, whose two members had resigned themselves to spending the next five years in isolation from the main powerbrokers.

But they were very willing participants in brokering the unlikely deal, which has already begun to pay dividends for them. They have this year's Deputy Mayor, plus the important position of representing the council on the Local Authorities Members Association (LAMA), and it's believed one of their members will be Mayor during the life time of the current council.

It's understood that the rotation of the Mayoral chain was decided by a draw from a hat in the small hours of Monday morning. The Labour Party was drawn first, and as Clr. Cawley was vacating the office and newcomer Marcella McGarry was deemed to be too inexperienced for the job at this stage, it fell to Clr. Jim McGarry to take up the Mayoral chain.