Hectic year comes to an end for Mayor Holland

By Laura Lyne

WITH South Dublin County Council’s annual meeting taking place this Friday, the chains of office of the Mayor of South Dublin will be handed over to a new candidate by Sinn Fein councillor for the Rathfarnham ward, Sarah Holland.

Since taking the reigns from her party colleague Senator Fintan Warfield last year, Cllr Holland has seen the implementation of the new South Dublin County Development Plan and marked the centenary of 1916 throughout the county.

Ahead of Friday’s annual meeting, she took some time out of her busy schedule to reflect on her past year as Mayor.

Speaking to The Echo, she said: “I loved it, it was totally different from anything I’ve done before. I got to meet people from every part of the county.

“I got to see the huge amount of work that goes on behind the scenes in South Dublin County Council also, particularly the hard work that goes on with the housing and community teams, I can’t commend them enough for the work they do.

“Some of the highlights of the year were definitely visiting the schools and community groups around the county, such as giving awards to the Lego club in St Dominic’s, there were so many heartwarming moments and they really did appreciate the Mayor coming to see them.”

As Mayor, Cllr Holland attended hundreds of events across South County Dublin and chaired the monthly council meeting.
She said: “I was well warned beforehand by my colleague Cllr Cathal King how busy it would be, but I really relished the challenge.

“I kept my constituency clinic going all throughout the year, and the role as Mayor had great flexibility in that I could bring my daughter Gracie along to events she wouldn’t usually get to attend, such as Filipino Independence day.

“It’ll be nice to get back to my normal job as a councillor, the year as Mayor is so full on with events morning, noon and night so it’ll be nice to cut the grass in my garden and have a cup of tea at home with Gracie, she’s delighted.”

Cllr Holland told The Echo that she now hopes to use her experience as Mayor to bring more knowledge to her role as a councillor for Rathfarnham.

Cllr Holland said: “I hope that I can bring back a lot of what I learnt in the community groups in such largely populated areas as Tallaght and Clondalkin to my constituents in Rathfarnham – the grass roots projects and groups are very organised.

“I really loved the opportunity as Mayor this year, and it really showed that roles such as these really are accessible to people all over the community.”