Writes Ciaran Dineen
Independent Councillor, Marcia D’Alton was recently elected as the new incoming Chair for the Carrigaline Municipal District (MD) following a vote at the District’s AGM.
Marcia becomes the third Chair of the MD in just a matter of months, after Cllr Audrey Buckley had temporarily filled the role following the departure of former Councillor, Aidan Lombard, who left local politics earlier this year having been elected as Chair at the AGM in 2020.
Marcia is a resident of Passage West, formally Monkstown and grew up in Douglas. She is a mother to five children and is married to her husband, Rob. Before her introduction to politics, the Independent Councillor studied in University College Cork, where she completed a degree in Civil Engineering and then went on to major in Environmental Engineering.
In 2004, Marcia was elected to Passage West Town Council, having become actively involved in the area following the initial Incinerator proposal for Ringaskiddy, stretching back 20 years. Marcia was again elected in 2009 and following the decision to abolish Town Councils in 2014, she decided to contest the Local Elections, taking a seat in the then Ballincollig-Carrigaline district. Cllr D’Alton then successfully ran in the latest set of elections, held in 2019 in the newly formed Carrigaline MD and was elected on the first count.
This is the first time Marcia has held the Chair position and she couldn’t hide her excitement upon her election saying, “I was delighted to be elected as Chair of the Carrigaline Municipal District at this morning's AGM! Although I am a public representative for a long time now, I had always considered myself more of a worker bee rather than a front of office person. So it is quite a big deal for me personally to have put my name forward for consideration as Chair for the coming year.”
She went on to thank her Council colleagues for putting her name forward, adding “I am hugely grateful to Cllr.Ben Dalton O’Sullivan for proposing me, to Cllr Seamus McGrath for seconding Ben's nomination and to the other members of our Municipal District for their support. My hope and intention is that, with the support of the fantastic Cork County Council staff team in our Municipal District, this morning's good cheer and positivity will continue throughout the coming 12 months.”
Cllr Ben Dalton O’Sullivan (Ind) was subsequently elected as Vice-Chair and will work alongside his fellow independent Councillor for the next 12 months. Best of luck to both Marcia and Ben!