Poll-topper Cooney-Sheehan elected Carrick mayor
Carrick-on-Suir's new mayor, election poll topper Cllr Sylvia Cooney-Sheehan, has declared she will be seeking support from her council colleagues for a freeze on commercial rates increases next year.
The new mayor, who took over the chains of office from Cllr Liam Walsh (SF) at Carrick Town Council's annual meeting on Monday, listed a rates hike freeze among the top priorities she will be campaigning for during her term in office.
The Fianna Fail councillor also pledged to do her best, with the support of her council colleagues, to secure jobs for Carrick-on-Suir and attract competitive retail business to the town.
She said she would also be looking to all State agencies, TDs and ministers with responsibility for towns like Carrick-on-Suir for support in tackling the town's high unemployment problem.
And she promised to continue to press for government funding for the Ballylynch Regeneration Scheme.
Cllr Cooney-Sheehan said the people of Carrick-on-Suir wanted change and they got change in the election.
"We had tough times on the council before this election and there will be tough times ahead.
"I was elected for my stand on the issues of no building on flood plains; condemning the supplementary development charges; my great concerns over a bridge coming without any public consultation and, the most controversial of all, letting Heatons slip out of our hands, even though I tried on two occasions unsuccessfully to get it through rezoning".
She warned these issues are still there and will be revisited during her term of office. She also hoped there would be a new energy in this new council to push for more transparency and accountability between council officials, members of the council and the public.
The outspoken councillor, who had many clashes with council management during the council's last term, said she was not on the council to argue for the sake of argument and insisted she was willing to sit down with management and discuss issues with them.
Cllr Cooney-Sheehan was proposed for the mayoralty by party colleague Cllr Kieran Bourke and seconded by Fine Gael Cllr Margaret Croke.
Members of her family and party colleagues Minister of State Martin Mansergh and retired Ballingarry Cllr Susan Meagher were among the observers in the public gallery at the annual meeting.
Newly elected Independent Cllr Richie O'Neill was proposed and seconded as the Deputy Mayor by WUAG Cllr Martin Henzey and Cllr Liam Walsh (SF) respectively.
In an unusual step, a mayoralty voting pact has not been formed within the new council between a majority coalition of councillors.
Instead, the holders of the offices of mayor and deputy mayor for the next five years as well as committee positions have been mutually agreed between the council's nine members.
Cllr O'Neill, who is from Ballylynch, said his main priority will be the regeneration of Ballylynch. He called on Fianna Fail representatives including the Mayor, Cllr Bourke and Minister Martin Mansergh to visit the estate and see the conditions they were living under.
He pointed out that there was no recession for Moyross in Limerick and an estate in Ballina in Co. Mayo, which received government funding this year for refurbishment.
Cllr Cooney-Sheehan and Cllr O'Neill were congratulated on their new positions by all members of the new council as well as Town Clerk Michael O'Brien and Town Manager Pat Slattery.
Outgoing Mayor, Cllr Liam Walsh, led the commiserations to the unsuccessful election candidates, particularly the four councillors, who lost their seats in the election: Patsy Murphy (FF), Jim Drohan (Lab), David Shee (FG) and Josie Waters (Ind).
He said these four former councillors gave more than 50 years service to the council and town between them.
Cllr Walsh also remembered the late FF Cllr Denis Bourke, who died last autumn, and served on the council for more than 35 years.
The council agreed to Cllr Denis Landy's proposal to host a function to mark the service former councillors Murphy, Drohan, Shee and Waters gave to the town.
Expressions of welcome were also expressed at the meeting to the council's new members Cllr Margaret Croke (FG), Cllr Martin Henzey (WUAG), Cllr Richie O'Neill (Ind) and Cllr Pierce O'Loughlin (Ind).
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Weather for Clonmel
Saturday 04 February 2012
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