Galway Bay fm newsroom - A special meeting will be held this Friday in a bid to revoke a decision by the County Council to maintain the Local Property Tax at the same rate as last year.
16 of 39 councillors voted to keep the current rate of LPT for 2018.
However, the vote was taken while a significant number of councillors were absent from the chamber, as they were discussing another local authority matter in an adjoining meeting room.
Concerns were raised that a decision was quickly taken with only 19 councillors in the chamber.
Of those present at the time of the vote, 9 voted in favour of keeping the rate as is, 7 voted against, and a further three councillors decided not to cast a vote.
There were heated scenes in the council chamber as Councillor Martina Kinane said she and some of her colleagues were effectively prevented from having a say on matter.
She argued that a vote on such an important issue should not have been taken while so many councillors were missing from the chamber.
Her Athenry/Oranmore colleague James Charity submitted a motion calling for a special meeting on the matter to be held on Friday with a view to holding a second vote on the 2018 LPT rate.
Following another vote, it was decided that the special meeting will be held at 9am on Friday.
The council has until 5 that evening to submit its decision on the property tax rate for 2018 to the government.
