Carrick-on-Suir district's new chairman to campaign for resumption of N24 upgrade project
Carrick-on-Suir Fianna Fáil Cllr Kieran Bourke was unanimously elected cathaoirleach of Carrick-on-Suir Municipal District at the district’s AGM
Carrick-on-Suir Municipal District's new cathaoirleach Cllr Kieran Bourke says campaigning for the resumption of the stalled N24 Cahir to Waterford upgrade project will be his top priority during his year long term in the role.
The Fianna Fáil councillor was unanimously elected to chair the five-councillor municipal district that stretches from Carrick-on-Suir to beyond Ballinure near Thurles at the AGM in Carrick Town Hall last Thursday morning.
This is Cllr Bourke's third term as cathaoirleach of Carrick Municipal District. He was also the last mayor of Carrick-on-Suir town in 2013/2014 before the abolition of Carrick-on-Suir Town Council in sweeping local government reforms.
The former building contractor, whose grandfather and uncle also represented Carrick-on-Suir as councillors, takes over the chains of office from fellow Carrick-on-Suir councillor David Dunne of Sinn Féin.
He was elected as a result of a pact between the district’s five councillors that means all five will be elected cathaoirleach in the lifetime of this council.
Cllr Bourke was proposed as cathaoirleach by Fine Gael Cllr Mark Fitzgerald and seconded by Labour Cllr Michael 'Chicken' Brennan at the AGM.
Cllr Bourke, in turn, proposed Cllr Mark Fitzgerald to the position of leas-cathaoirleach and Fianna Fáil Cllr Amy Goldsboro seconded him.
Following his election, Cllr Bourke told The Nationalist that putting pressure on the Government to resume planning of the upgrade of the N24 route between Cahir and Waterford will be his top priority as chairman.
The upgrade of this section of the national route includes a proposal to build a bypass of Carrick-on-Suir.
“We are short between €8m and €9m funding to complete the next stage of planning this upgrade. I will be using my influence to lobby the Government to come up with that funding to move on the project.
“There is a lot of money gone into planning this upgrade already. If the project is left go much longer, the work will be obsolete and they will have to start from the beginning,” he pointed out.
Cllr Bourke’s other top priority as district cathaoirleach will be to support the regeneration scheme works in his hometown over the next year and to ensure they progress as planned.
“The regeneration scheme works going on in Carrick are absolutely fabulous. The town has become a better place to do business and live. While the works may cause disruption, I believe it is worth it, and we are going to have a fabulous town going forward. The materials and standard of work is second to none,” he added.