This article is from page 22 of the 2011-06-21 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 22 JPG
FINE Gael town councillor Mary Brennan has been elected Mayor of Shannon. The election came about after the sitting mayor, Councillor Tony Mulcahy, was elected to the Seanad.
Cllr Brennan – who was first elected to the council two years ago – was elected mayor after she was proposed by Independent councillor Patricia McCarthy and seconded by Fine Gael councillor Seán McLoughlin, at a meeting of Shannon Town Council last Tuesday.
She will hold the position for just a fortnight as a new mayor is to be elected on June 28. However, Ms Brennan is widely expected to hold onto the post for the next 12 months.
In accepting the chain of office, Cllr Brennan described it as a “unique honour”.
She took the opportunity to pay tribute to the town’s retired town clerk Tomás MacCormaic, who passed away a fortnight ago. She said that a golf classic organised as a fundraiser for the senior citizens club in the town should be in memory of Tomás, who had a great love of golf. The golf classic will take place at Shannon Golf Club on June 27. “It would be a nice honour if we made it in memory of him,” she said.
Independent councillor Gerry Flynn wished Ms Brennan well as mayor, while Labour councillor Greg Duff said he hoped that all councillors would work in “partnership”.
Cllr Seán McLoughlin (FG) said that Ms Brennan was an excellent deputy mayor when he was mayor last year and wished her well in her new role.
Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Ind) congratulated Cllr Brennan and said, “Hopefully you will stay longer than two weeks. I’m satisfied you will be an extremely impartial chairperson.”
Cllr Brennan was the chairperson of the MPC on Tourism for the past two years and has been succeeded in this role by Sinn Féin councillor Cathy McCafferty.