This article is from page 79 of the 2008-07-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 79 JPG
IF anyone ever doubted the strong re- lationship between Kilkee and Lim- erick they should speak to the seaside town’s newly elected mayor.
PJ Linnane has played as impor- tant a role in the Treaty city, as he is about to embark upon in his own hometown.
Cllr Linnane (FF) is a member of Limerick city’s much publicised re- generation programme and has in the past week been elected unopposed as the mayor of Kilkee.
The project manager was first elect- ed to Kilkee Town Council in 1994.
He did not stand for the council in
1999, but the political bug had taken
hold and he was successful elected
again in 2004.
During the term 1997-1998 he was chairman of the council, but since the Local Government Act the chair- person of the council is now called mayor.
The title of mayor is a great source of pride to the Kilkee man, his wife Evelyn and his three sons. An active politician Cllr Linnane serves on the Community and Culture SPC and represents Kilkee on the Committee for social services and health imple- mentation.
It was through friendships he de- veloped with the many Limerick visitors to Kilkee that Cllr Linnane first became involved in the city’s social issues.
Through one of those friendships
he met a man who had opened an en- gineering factory in Moyross to pro- vide employment for local youths.
Cllr Linnane said he was the first politician to visit the factory.
He was also there when former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern visited the area, and gave the seal of approval to the regeneration of the socially de- prived area.
Cllr Linnane now hopes to encour- age Clare County Council to rezone land on the Clare side of the bound- ary for the regeneration programme.
In Kilkee the new mayor has also a few issues of his own to deal with.
During his year as first citizen of the town he hopes to get all parties involved in the contentious Dunlicky Road Quarry issue sitting down.