New Mayor looking forward to ‘exciting 12 months ahead’
By Maurice Garvey
INDEPENDENT councillor Peter Kavanagh was elected Mayor of South Dublin County Council this week, vowing support for action on green policies, equality, inclusion and looking forward to an “exciting 12 months ahead”.
Cllr Kavanagh takes over the reigns from Cllr Ed O’Brien (FF), who held the position for the last year and handed over the mayoral chains to Clondalkin man Kavanagh following a vote last Friday evening.
Mayor Peter Kavanagh and Deputy Mayor Laura Donaghy Photo Ben Ryan
A vote amongst the 40 members of the chamber saw 26 in favour of Cllr Kavanagh, six votes for Cllr Ronan McMahon (Ind) and seven abstentions.
Cllr Kavanagh was nominated by Fianna Fáil and the Green group.
Fine Gael nominated Independent councillor Ronan McMahon for mayor, which added a bit of spice to proceedings.
The ruling group of the council (FF/FG/Green) came under fire from some members for putting forward two nominations for the roles of mayor and deputy mayor.
Cllrs Mick Duff and Pamela Kearns (Lab) said it was a sign that the ruling group was “fractured”, with long term Cllr Duff noting it was the first time he saw such a move, despite a commitment in place by the ruling group to nominate a Green Party member for mayor in the third year of the council.
A number of councillors objected to Cllr McMahon’s political views, including Cllr Kieron Mahon (Sol), who abstained from voting for either candidate, saying he could not support McMahon based on his position with “issues like Repeal”.
Cllr Paul Gogarty (Ind), no stranger to going against the grain, said McMahon was entitled to his views which were “consistent” and blasted “wokeness as the new fundamentalism”.
During the vote for mayor itself, which was never in doubt, McMahon jokingly deliberated using his own vote to support Kavanagh before backing himself, a quip that was well received at the online meeting.
Cllr Ed O’Brien thanked all for their support during his term in a what was/is a challenging Covid-impacted year, emphasising his respect for the “significance of the office”.
South Dublin County Council Chief Executive Daniel McLoughlin praised Cllr O’Brien for being “fantastic in everything he did” in the role as mayor and that he was delighted to stand beside him.
Green Party councillor Laura Donaghy was elected deputy mayor.
