Cllr Seamus McGrath Elected Chair of Carrigaline MD

Writes Leo McMahon

Poll topper Cllr Seamus McGrath (Fianna Fail) and Cllr Audrey Buckley (FF) were unanimously elected Cathaoirleach and Leas-Cathaoirleach respectively at the first meeting of Cork County Council’s new Carrigaline Municipal District (MD) held in Co Hall.

Cllr McGrath was first co-opted to Passage West Town and Cork County Councils in 2007 when his brother Michael was elected to Dail Eireann and was subsequently re-elected to County Hall in 2009, 2014 and last month. He was County Mayor in 2016-17.Aged 44, he and his wife Gayle have two children, Jenna and Averie and reside at Bridgemount, Carrigaline.

Cllr McGrath was proposed for the chair by Cllr Buckley, seconded by Cllr Marcia D’Alton (Ind) and thanked his fellow members. Cllr Buckley, from Crosshaven, was elected Leas-Cathaoirleach on a proposal by Cllr Aidan Lombard (Fine Gael), seconded by UCC student Cllr Ben Dalton-O’Sullivan (Ind). The other member of the new six-member MD is Cllr Liam O’Connor (FG) of Carrigaline Tidy Towns.

Of the former Carrigaline-Ballincollig MD, Cllrs Deirdre Forde (FG), Mary RoseDesmond (FF) and Derry Canty (FG) were elected to the enlarged Cork City Council as a result of taking in Douglas, Grange, Rochestown, Togher and Ballincollig. The outgoing Cathaoirleach was Joe Harris (Social Democrats). Cllr Lombard previously served in Bandon-Kinsale MD but moved after Crosshaven, Ballinhassig, Ballygarvan, south Carrigaline and most of Tracton was relocated to Carrigaline MD which also serves Crosshaven, Passage West and Lower Cork Harbour.

Meetings of Carrigaline MD, which are open to the public, are usually held at 2pm on the third Monday of the month in County Hall following the Southern Committee that morning but it was agreed to consider holding some meetings in the actual MD area on a different day if suitable locations can be found.

Read the remainder of the edition here: http://subscriber.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/subscribe.aspx?eid=c946bff2-f434-4a7b-a75d-621998d7e750