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Buncrana welcomes new Mayor
25.03.11
by Damian Dowds, Inishowen Independent
COUNCILLOR Michael Grant has been officially
installed as Mayor of Buncrana after taking over
from Pádraig MacLochlainn who was elected to the
Dáil last month.
Cllr Grant, who was co-opted onto the council in
October 2008 in place of the late Philip Diggin, had
served as Deputy Mayor since June 2010 and was
elected unopposed at Tuesday’s special meeting of
Buncrana Town Council.
Cllr Nicholas Crossan was returned unopposed as
Deputy Mayor.
“I’m proud to accept the position of mayor and I
thank my colleagues for their unanimous endorsement
as mayor and chair of Buncrana Town Council,” said
Cllr Grant, following handshakes all round.
“I’m privileged to be elected as mayor and I
consider myself to be part of a team of nine
councillors working for the betterment of Buncrana. |
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Mayoral team: Buncrana Mayor, Cllr
Michael Grant is congratulated by his deputy, Cllr
Nicholas Crossan. |
“We have a number of
exciting projects in the mix, including the John
Newton-Amazing Grace scheme, the Ned’s Point
development and Project Kelvin. We still have to tie
down Project Kelvin and establish an incubation unit
here in the town. And we have an important cross
border conference with Australian representatives in
June.”
The new mayor extended his best wishes to Pádraig
Mac Lochlainn on his appointment as Sinn Féin
spokesman on Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Congratulating Cllr Grant, Cllr Crossan described
him as the hardest working Deputy Mayor ever.
“Local government is very important and Pádraig
MacLochlainn, who I think is the first councillor
we’ve sent from here to the Dáil, has promised to
keep it to the fore in his new job. The next couple
of years will be a trying time for local government
and we’ll need allies like that.”
“I’m honoured to accept the position of Deputy
Mayor,” Cllr Crossan said, quipping. “I don’t expect
I’ll be as busy as Cllr Grant was in the run-up to
the general election.”
Speaking on the election of Pádraig MacLochlainn and
Charlie McConalogue to the Dáil, Cllr Joe Doherty
said: “Town and county councils are the foot
soldiers of government and we’ll have to utilise our
contacts to maintain local government as it is.”
Cllr Michelle Bradley said the unanimous appointment
of both the Mayor and Deputy Mayor reflected
positively on the co-operative nature of Buncrana
Town Council.
Sinn Féin were due co-opt a new councillor on
Tuesday night in place of Pádraig MacLochlainn, but
the party has not yet held a selection convention to
choose their candidate and Cllr Mary Kelly sought to
defer the co-option to a later date. |
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