Knock native Deirdre Lawless co-opted to Mayo County Council

KNOCK native Deirdre Lawless has been co-opted to Mayo County Council in place of her brother, Deputy Paul Lawless.

Cllr Lawless was proposed by Fine Gael’s Peter Flynn and seconded by Fianna Fáil’s Damien Ryan - despite some councillors expressing misgivings about her not living in Mayo. 

Cllr Lawless currently resides in Claregalway, where she works as a teacher, but says she intends to move back to Knock. 

She fills a seat that has been vacant since Deputy Lawless was elected to Dáil Éireann in November. 

Proposing Cllr Lawless, Cllr Flynn expressed misgivings that councillors had been given ‘no information’ regarding the candidate they were asked to ratify. 

“I have no clue about the candidate, but I’m delighted to hear that it’s a female candidate, without a question we need more females in the council not just in Mayo but right across the country, and I’m delighted it appears to be someone that’s young,” added Cllr Flynn. 

Her selection will bring the total number of female councillors in Áras an Chontae to four. She is the second woman to serve as a councillor in the Claremorris Local Electoral Area, after Fine Gael’s Alma Gallagher became the first woman elected in the area in June.

The meeting the ratify Cllr Lawless was held online this afternoon (Wednesday, January 8).

Cllr Patsy O’Brien, who went to the council chamber in Áras an Chontae to attend the meeting, said he was ‘surprised’ that the meeting to ratify her was not held in person.

Responding to remarks about her not living in Mayo, Cllr Lawless said she had not been living in the county due to the lack of housing in her area. 

Prior to working in Claregalway, Cllr Lawless worked in a school in Kiltimagh but had to leave as she did not have a permanent position. 

She said that she was ‘fighting hard’ to move home to Mayo and that her livig in another county would not impede her work as a councillor

“As you all know, we are in the middle of a housing crisis, and unfortunately government have failed to deliver housing, especially for the Claremorris area, so that is something I’m really willing to work and going to work hard on. Because people like myself have had to buy outside our area, through no choice of our own,” she said. 

“I spend an awful lot of my time already in the area at home with a young family and I really look forward to moving home. There is no rental accomodation in Claremorris so my hands are tied at the moment but I am fighting hard to get home as soon as I can. That is my priority to be among my constituents.” 

Cllrs Gerry Coyle (Fine Gael) and Annie May Reape (Fianna Fáil) said it did not matter that Cllr Lawless was living in another county. 

“To me, where people live don’t matter…as long as they do their work. Their work is what’s important,” said Cllr Coyle.  

Cllr Lawless was wished well in her new position by all the councillors who spoke at the meeting, including the council Cathaoirleach Cllr John O’Hara (Fine Gael) and Kevin Kelly, Chief Executive of Mayo County Council. 

Good wishes were also extended to Deputy Paul Lawless, who was the first Aontú member to be elected to public office in Mayo. 

Deputy Lawless was the only Aontú TD other than party leader Peadar Tóibín to win a Dáil seat in the general election. 

Kiltimagh-based councillor Adrian Forkan said local representatives should work with Deputy Lawless to get ‘as much funding into our area of east Mayo, south Mayo’ as possible.