This article is from page 9 of the 2012-06-19 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 9 JPG
LONG serving Fianna Fáíl councillor Peter Considine was last night elected Mayor of Ennis.
It is the seventh time Cllr Considine has held the office having last been elected mayor in 2008.
He beat off competition from Fine Gael councillor Johnny Flynn at the council’s AGM. He replaces outgoing Mayor, Cllr Michael Guilfoyle (Ind), who held the chain of office for the past 12 months. Cllr Considine was proposed as mayor by Cllr Frankie Neylon and seconded by Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind).
Cllr Flynn was proposed by Cllr Paul O’Shea (Lab) and seconded by Cllr Mary Howard (FG).
Councillors Neylon, Considine Brennan, Brian Meaney (GP) and Guilfoyle voted for Cllr Considine.
Councillors O’Shea, Howard, Flynn and Mary Coote Ryan (FG) voted for Cllr Flynn.
Cllr Considine urged members to be conscious of economic circumstances of the council. He added, “Local authorities don’t escape the austerities that are around.”
He added, “I would urge all councillors to temper their expectations with the resources of the council in mind.”
However he said progress could be expected on certain projects including the completion of the Inner Relief Road and the development of new facilities for Tim Smythe Park.
On the future of local government, Cllr Considine said, “We would expect rather than hope that Ennis Town Council would be left to administer services in Ennis. It would be shocking if Ennis were left as a sub-committee of Clare County Council.” Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) was elected as Deputy Mayor ahead of Cllr Mary Howard (FG), Cllr Brennan was proposed by Cllr Guilfoyle while Cllr Howard was proposed by Cllr O’Shea.
Prior to the election of the deputy mayor, Cllr Meaney said he had not been asked to vote for Cllr Howard. He urged those councillors supporting her to do a little “groundwork” before hand. Cllr Flynn said he had competed for mayor on nine different occasions and never once canvassed councillors for votes. He said he would not be competing next year due to work commitments.
Cllr O’Shea was returned as Chairman of the Ennis Joint Policing Committee (JPC). Tributes were also paid to outgoing mayor, Cllr Guilfoyle.