Carey continues in his role as Cathaoirleach of Westport/Belmullet MD

BELMULLET-based councillor Seán Carey will remain as Cathaoirleach of the Westport/Belmullet Municipal District for another year following his election at the AGM of the municipal district.

The Fianna Fáil councillor served as Cathaoirleach of the Municipal District for the 12 months before the June local elections and it was agreed that he will continue on in the role.

He was nominated by his party colleague, Cllr Brendan Mulroy who described Cllr Carey as a capable councillor who served in the role as Cathaoirleach before. He was seconded by Fine Gael councillor Gerry Coyle who joked that they like to keep the role of Cathaoirleach in Erris for as long as they can.

This is the third time that Cllr Carey will wear the chain of office having served two terms as Cathaoirleach in the previous term of the council.

Cllr Carey thanked his colleagues for electing him as Cathaoirleach and welcomed the councillors who were reelected following the local election and to Louisburgh-based Independent Ireland councillor Chris Maxwell who was attending his first meeting.

He commiserated with former councillor Christy Hyland who lost his seat and acknowledged the work by Padraig Walsh, the former Head of the Municipal District who recently retired.

“I want to thank all of you for putting your trust in me in giving me your support for the chair in the coming year. I am honoured and grateful for that. I believe by working together we can achieve more and it will be great for that to continue into the future,” he said.

He was congratulated by his fellow councillors who wished him well in the role as Cathaoirleach. Achill-based councillor Paul McNamara thanked the people who voted for them in the recent elections and put their trust in them to represent them. He said that a lot of work for the region is done during meetings of the municipal district and they are important for the areas he represents.

Independent councillor John O'Malley said the municipal district is a vast area and a lot of work needs to be done to represent the people and he looked forward to the next five years.

Erris-based councillor Gerry Coyle said he never met a person who was elected who did not want to work for their area and there was an onus on the councillors to work together to get work done.

He proposed his party colleague Cllr Peter Flynn as Leas Cathaoirleach saying that it was important that the Westport Electoral Area was represented. Cllr Mulroy seconded the proposal.

Cllr Flynn, who joined the meeting online, thanked his colleagues for nominating him as Leas Cathaoirleach and stated he was looking forward to working with Cllr Carey over the next 12 months.

He said he looked forward to the next five years of the new council and looked forward to all the councillors working well together.