New Cathaoirligh of Claremorris and Castlebar municipal districts to be elected

THE first Cathaoirligh of the new Claremorris-Swinford and Castlebar municipal districts will be elected today (Wednesday). 

The Mayo News understands that Fine Gael will chair the Castlebar Municipal District, with the chain of Cathaoirleach to be worn by either Cllr Ger Deere or Cllr Donna Sheridan following the Annual General Meeting of the municipal district. 

Cllr Deere attracted the second-highest first-preference vote in the seven-seat municipal district in the recent local elections, where he was elected on the first count alongside poll-topping Independent Cllr Michael Kilcoyne. Cllr Sheridan was not elected until the early hours of Sunday morning on the fourteenth count. 

Fine Gael have three seats in Castlebar Municipal District after Cllrs Deere, Sheridan and Cllr Cyril Burke all retained their seats following a lengthy count where twelve candidates were eliminated before the municipal district was finalised. 

Fianna Fáil lost a seat in the Castlebar area when Independent councillor Harry Barrett unseated Cllr Martin McLoughlin. Party stalwarts Cllr Blackie Gavin and Cllr Al McDonnell also retained their seats.

Cllr Gavin recently found himself in hot water when he voted against his party going in coalition with Fianna Fáil in Mayo County Council. 

Meanwhile, Cllr Damien Ryan looks set to be elected Cathaoirelach of the nine-seat Claremorris Swinford Municipal District at its Annual General Meeting. 

The Mayo News understands that the Ballinrobe-based Fianna Fáil councillor will be chosen to chair the municipal district as part of a coalition between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. 

For the past five years, the chain of Cathaoirleach has been shared between Sinn Féin’s Cllr Gerry Murray and Fine Gael under a rare confidence and supply agreement between the two parties. 

Claremorris-Swinford Municipal District has three newly elected councillors in total. Cllr Adrian Forkan (Fianna Fáil), who was initially co-opted in place of Michael Smyth, was elected without reaching the quota following a marathon count in the Swinford Local Electoral Area. 

Cllr Alma Gallagher will today become the first female councillor to sit in the Claremorris Local Electoral Area after she won the seat held by her retired Fine Gael colleague John Cribbin for 25 years. 

The only other change to the municipal district sees Aontú’s Paul Lawless elected in place of Fine Gael’s Tom Connolly.