Sheridan makes history with election as Cathaoirleach of Castlebar Municipal District

Mayo Fine Gael councillor Donna Sheridan made history when she became the first female to be elected as the Cathaoirleach of Castlebar Municipal District.

The Balla native was elected unanimously as Cathaoirleach of Castlebar Municipal District at this afternoon's AGM after she was nominated by her party colleague Cllr Ger Deere. Her nomination was seconded by Fine Gael councillor Cyril Burke and her election was confirmed after Independent councillor Michael Kilcoyne indicated that he was supporting the nomination and there would be no challenges.

Cllr Sheridan was first elected as a councillor in 2014 and successfully retained her seat on Mayo County Council in the local elections earlier this month.

When proposing the name of Cllr Sheridan for the position as first citizen of the county town, Cllr Derre said that it was a historic occasion as she would be the first female to be elected as Cathaoirleach. He said he made history when he nominated Cllr Noreen Heston to be the first female Mayor of Castlebar Town Council and was glad to do it again.

“I have a record of good decisions by nominating women and I have no reason to believe that Cllr Sheridan won't do equally as good or a better job. Just over five years ago, Cllr Sheridan was relatively unknown but by her performances over the last five years on Mayo County Council and this municipal district everyone now knows Donna Sheridan.

“She is passionate about Castlebar and is forensic for the right reasons and she will fight for the rights of the people and the area to make it a better place to live and work. We are all elected to make good decisions and we are certainly making a good decision here today in her going forward as the first female Cathaoirleach of the Castlebar Municipal District,” he said.

Cllr Deere welcomed Cllr Sheridan's mother Ann and family members to the chamber who were present to witness the historic occasion.

Cllr Burke said that Cllr Sheridan was very capable and the onus was on all councillors to work with her and do the right thing for the municipal district.

Cllr Sheridan was presented with the chain of office by the outgoing Cathoirleach Cllr Al McDonnell who said that the town and the Castlebar area was in good hands for the next 12 months.

Cllr Donna Sheridan (FG) was elected as Cathaoirleach of Castlebar Municipal District

Cllr Sheridan thanked the councillors for their support in nominating her as Cathaoirleach of the municipal district. She said they supported her when she was a novice councillor five years ago and she looked forward to working with them.

“Everyone sitting in this chair over the last five years treated me with the height of respect and fairness and I hope to do the same and be fair to every member in this district. What I want to see happening over the next five years is the delivery of regeneration projects and the seven of us working together collaboratively to look at what projects we need going forward,” she said.

Cllr Sheridan said the municipal district was blessed to have a management team led by John Condon, Director of Services and David Mellett, Head of the Municipal District and looked forward to working with them.

Fianna Fáil councillor Al McDonnell was elected as Leas Cathaoirleach of the Municipal District after he was nominated by Cllr Deere and seconded by Cllr Burke. Cllr Deere said that Cllr McDonnell is a man the other councillors often rely on for advice and he will be a good deputy for Cllr Sheridan.

There were no other nominations and Cllr McDonnell thanked Cllr Deere for the nomination and looked forward to working with Cllr Sheridan.

Director of Services John Condon congratulated the seven councillors following their election and welcomed Independent councillor Harry Barrett who was elected to the municipal district for the first time. He commiserated with former councillor Martin McLoughlin who lost his seat following the election.