This article is from page 22 of the 2011-07-05 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 22 JPG
REMEMBERING the late town clerk in Shannon was one of the new town mayor’s priorities immediately after she was elected last week.
Fine Gael councillor Mary Brennan paid tribute to Tomás MacCormaic, who died suddenly on June 7. He had been the town clerk for 27 years prior to his retirement two years ago and was highly regarded in the town.
A golf classic was held last week to raise funds for the senior citizens club in the town last Monday and the new mayor was one of those involved. “It was dedicated to Tomás,” she said.
“Tomás was a gentleman and was very much part of the community in Shannon. Young and old loved him. Nothing was too little or too big for him. I felt it was a nice gesture to dedicate the golf to him. He was involved with the senior citizens club.”
Cllr Brennan was elected as mayor two weeks earlier, to replace Tony Mulcahy who left the council to take up a place in the Seanad. Her fellow councillors opted to re-elect her to the position for a 12-month term. She has been a town councillor for the past two years.
She told The Clare People she enjoyed the fortnight as chairperson of the council and is look- ing forward to the year ahead. “It has been very enjoyable. I am excited about it,” said Cllr Brennan, who has worked as the caretaker in the town’s health centre for the past 23 years.
A number of priorities are on her mind for the year ahead, not least a focus on the local airport.
“I’d hope we could facilitate more work at the airport and lobby Richard Bruton. It is such a shame to see the airport being used for the wrong reasons; our children leaving due to lack of jobs,” she said.
She knows at first hand the circumstances surrounding the recession, as one of her sons has emigrated to Canada, while another will move to Australia in the coming weeks.
“I will be working with the community. I would be quite open to taking on board any ideas people would offer me for the betterment of Shannon,” she said. “I’d know a lot of people in Shannon through working in the health centre. People know they can come up to me and I will point them in the right direction,” said the mother-of-three, who is a native of Mayo. My eldest is 30 and my youngest is 23. I would be very well known in that age group. I work with vast age groups. The elderly enjoy coming in and having the banter in the health centre.”