23rd June 2023
The Ballinlough-based Independent Councillor was elected with 23 votes.
In his mayoral speech, the new Lord Mayor said his priorities for the year include making sure Cork’s citizens were “the front and centre of (Cork City Council’s) priorities, such as reducing homelessness, making sure our construction of our new social housing projects keeps on track, as well as keeping our affordable housing programmes on track, to making sure we are put on a firm footing to be Climate Neutral as part of the EU led Horizon Mission.”
He also said: “We need to keep adding to sustainable mobility plans; we need to keep enhancing the offering of the city centre; we need to make sure we keep creating new amenities, and we need to continue to make sure our communities are future proofed by weaving them with the sustainable development goals and the WHO Healthy Cities project.”
Lord Mayor Cllr. Kieran McCarthy noted the strong sense of place and identity within the city’s communities, saying: “I would like to offer a voice to many of our citizens through my theme of Building our Communities Together and through a pet project I will be calling the Voices of Cork project. My interests in heritage, history and education will be at the heart of this project.”
Outgoing Lord Mayor, Cllr. Deirdre Forde noted some of the highlights of her year in office, including the charity events she held which raised almost €50,000 for Cork’s charities. She said: “I couldn’t be more proud of each one of you, the beautiful children in all our schools, our incredible businesses who work so hard to stay innovative and progressive, our sharing and caring communities, our artists, musicians and creatives who embellish all our lives, our frontline workers, defence forces, our educational and hospital personnel, I thank you for all you have done and are doing.
