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Buckley-Byrne elected Mayor of Athlone

Wednesday, 7 July 2010

INDEPENDENT Athlone Town Councillor Sheila Buckley-Byrne was yesterday (Monday) elected unopposed as Mayor of Athlone.
The nomination of the former Fianna Fail member, now part of a voting alliance favouring the opposite side of the house was a poorly kept secret in recent weeks and sees her take a step up from serving as Deputy Mayor to the outgoing Fine Gael Cllr Mark Cooney.
And newly elected Mayor Buckley-Byrne to her predecessor, stating that Cllr Cooney had conducted himself in the role over the past year with an air of "professionalism" and displayed great "personal skills" in how he dealt with people while representing the Council during that time.
At the head of the meeting Cllr Cooney took the opportunity to that both sides of the chamber for the support they had given him while serving as Mayor adding he was "proud" and that it was a "privilege" to act on behalf of the people of Athlone.
Cllr Cooney spoke of his time as Mayor as one of "highs and lows" the lows most notably coming when hundreds of local people were forced from their homes when the river Shannon burst its banks at record levels, the likes not seen in over 50 years, causing millions of euros of damage.
Another he said situation regarding health infrastructure in the town, particularly the recent development of the HSE proceeding with plans to close down the inpatient unit at local care home Loughloe House.
However, he said there highs too, none more so than the progression of key elements to the future development of Athlone, the castle revamp in time for the 800th year celebrations as well as plans to develop a new €3.5 million art gallery at the Fr Mathew Hall. Furthermore he said his tenure ended with a high more recent than all of the above, that of the town proudly hosting the European Triathlon Championships and the TriAthlone event this past weekend, an event which he said he hoped would continue for many years to come, much to the benefit of the town.
Tributes were paid were shared from the members to Cllr Cooney, for many a change in Mayor was a whole new experience for them and those who are relatively new to the role thanked the outgoing Mayor for his patience, understanding and approachability.
The election of new Mayor took very little time and in front a packed gallery of family, fiend and supporters, Labour's Jim Henson proposed Cllr Sheila Buckley-Byrne as Mayor, seconded by Fine Gael's Gabbrelle McFadden.
With no opposition from the opposite side of the house, Fianna Fail's Kieran Molloy saying the decision was not just because they were "mathematically challenged" in such a situation, Cllr Buckley-Byrne was bestowed the Chain of Office became Mayor Buckley-Byrne.
She thanked her colleagues for electing her to the role before thanking her family and fiends and in particular her father Con for their supporting working an elected representative of Athlone.
In her speech she said she drew great inspiration from the local groups in Athlone who gave so much of their time and energies in serving the people of the town and said that she too saw her role of Mayor as not just being of representation but also in giving back something to the people.
There was naturally some joking in the chamber about whether Mayor Buckley-Byrne would favour the Fine Gael, Labour side of the chamber whom she has struck an voting pact or with Fianna Fail with Cllr Aengus O'Rourke commenting that she came from their side of the "gene-pool".
County Manager, who had previously thanked Cllr Cooney on behalf of the local authority for his work over the past year welcomed Mayor Buckley-Byrne telling her that she had the full support of the staff and his "door was always open".
The role of Deputy Mayor was decided in similarly magnanimous fashion with Fine Gael Alan Shaw elected to the role totally unopposed, proposed by Cllr Cooney and seconded in the vote by Cllr Henson.
Cllr Shaw and newly elected Deputy Mayor thanked his fellow elected members for their support and said that he looked forward to working with Mayor Buckley-Byrne in the year ahead.

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