Row erupts over Dollard"s military record

Mullingar Town Councillors Betty Doran and Frank McIntyre are remaining adamant this morning (Tuesday) that they want Town Council Chairman, Mick Dollard, to resign from the chairmanship, as the row over his military service record rages on.Teaming up at last week"s monthly meeting of the Town Council the pair confronted their chairman with newspaper cuttings and photocopied details from his army record which they said showed that he had never served in the Congo, Lebanon or the Golan Heights as they said he had claimed.Councillors Doran and McIntyre presented a letter in the council chamber which asked Councillor Dollard to explain why he had told 'bare faced lies' about his army service.When it came to the any other business section of the meeting the chairman read out the letter after which he said that his army record had 'no bearing on my service as a town councillor'.'But it does,' roared councillor Doran in reply. 'You are lying about something which people from this town have spilled their blood for.'Ignoring the comments the chairman walked out of the meeting without further reply.The Labour Party last night issued a statement on behalf of Cllr. Dollard, in which he said he apologised for any misleading details.In the statement Councillor Dollard said that he had got carried away at an 'emotional event' and had perhaps misled an audience at the official address to the 4FAR regiment held at Belvedere House in late April of this year.'I was talking about my father"s army service, he did serve in the Congo and if I misled anyone into thinking that I served in the Congo then I apologise for that, it was an emotional event.'I also regret that I inadvertently wore my father"s Congo medal on the wrong side of my ONE (Organisation of National Ex-Servicemen) uniform. I also regret that I gave the impression, speaking at an emotional occasion, that I had served with the Defence Forces in Congo, when my service was in Cyprus.'Councillor Dollard also said that when he had spoken about his time in the Lebanon he was referring to some time he spent travelling through the Middle East when he had finished his service in Cyprus.'I am enormously proud of having had the opportunity of serving my country in the Defence Forces, including periods with the United Nations in Cyprus, during which time I also visited the Lebanon, Jordan and Israel,' read the statement.But both Councillor Doran and Cllr. McIntyre have indicated that they are not satisfied with Cllr. Dollard"s statement, and Cllr. Doran has said she would resign if Cllr. Dollard continues as chairman of the Town Council, while Cllr. McIntyre called for the Labour Party to sack his colleague with immediate effect.Councillors Doran and McIntyre said that they had checked out Councillor Dollard"s army records at Cathal Brugha barracks in Dublin.Councillor Dollard is remaining adamant that he will continue to serve both in the Labour Party and as Chairman of Mullingar Town Council.'It is unfortunate that this has been made an issue of controversy by political opponents. I will continue to serve my electorate on Westmeath County Council and Mullingar Town Council and I am confident that the people of this area will continue to support me as they have done in election after election,' he said.