Sean Kelly elected Cathaoirleach of Dundalk Municipal District

Fianna Fail’s Sean Kelly was reelected to the role of Cathaoirleach at Tuesday’s annual meeting of Dundalk Municipal District, the first meeting since the local elections.

Councillor Kelly was nominated by party colleague Andrea McKevitt, who said he has “carried out the role of chairperson with great diligence” and “had been an exemplary ambassador for the people and town of Dundalk for the past year.” 

She further paid tribute to councillor Kelly saying, “It was a wonderful day for your mum Catriona and dad Sean and sisters Louise and Denise when you were elected last year to the office of Cathaoirleach and I have no doubt you are going to make them proud each and every day. 

“I know the pride they must have felt when you topped the poll in the Dundalk-Carlingford district only a few weeks ago, but also when you as chairperson of Darkness into Light received word of the services that will be provided to this town from October by Pieta, a charity you hold close to your heart and have championed for many years to get their services to Dundalk.

“Through the year your door has always been open and you’ve been very fair and proactive while serving as chairperson and I’ve no doubt that if you are successful, this evening, you will continue to do that.”

Councillor Kevin Meenan had proposed his party colleague Sionainn McCann for the role saying, “Sionainn McCann is the youngest councillor to be on here… Shannon has been a breath of fresh air in how she ran her election campaign, she has been a party member for seven years and joined very young.

“She’s one for the future in terms of ourselves and also she’s female, she’s hardworking, she’s particularly aware of issues affecting young people.” 

Councillor Kelly was elected by seven votes to five, with Councillor Maeve Yore abstaining.

Councillor McCann received votes from her party colleagues as well as from Green Party councillor Marianne Butler while Councillor Kelly received backing from members of his party along with votes from councillors John Reilly and Robert Nash of Fine Gael and Independent councillor Ciaran Fisher. 

Councillor John Reilly of Fine Gael congratulated Councillor Kelly on being reelected and thanked him for the service he had provided in the role in the past year, saying he had done a “fantastic job” and had been “impartial to all the different parties and different councillors” and wished him well for the year ahead. 

Sinn Fein’s Councillor Kevin Meenan similarly offered his congratulations, but said in terms of his party’s view, “I have no animosity towards the vast majority of people in this room, but what happened on Friday (at the Louth County Council meeting were a similar voting pact was formed) was a minority of people manipulated a situation which could have been beneficial to us all and it didn’t work out that way.

“They left us as a party with a ‘back of the bus moment’ on Friday which was hard to take considering the amount of effort we have put in through the years in terms of working collaboratively with everybody here and thinking that would come back in some shape or form when it was actually thrown back in our faces, it wasn’t even just declined, it was thrown back in our faces.”

Councillor Meenan said he was not trying to take away from Councillor Kelly’s moment and again wished him the best of luck. 

Councillors Marianne Butler, Ciaran Fisher, Emma Coffey and Robert Nash also wished him well in the new role.