Proud day as Casey takes Longford council top job
First citizen: ‘Absolutely fabulous’ to be nominated for 2nd time
Longford County Council elected members appointed a new Cathaoirleach at the first official meeting of the new local authority last Friday (June 21).
The post of Cathaoirleach of Longford County Council was assumed by Mark Casey. Cllr Casey took up the role having thrown his lot in with fellow independent Turlough McGovern and the eight Fine Gael Councillors to form a majority grouping that holds dominance over the eight Fianna Fáil representatives.
The Lanesboro councillor was nominated for the head of the council by Cllr McGovern, with the proposal seconded by FGs Paul Ross.
“This is Mark's fourth time in the council and second time to take the chair,” Cllr McGovern said, “He is a hard working fellow and it is a very proud day for the Casey family.”
This is the second time the Independent councillor assumed the helm of the council, having led the local authority exactly 10 years ago in 2024.
In accepting the chain of office the new council head said: “It's a huge honour to be Mayor of the county once, to be nominated a second time is absolutely fabulous and I really want to thank you all for the opportunity.”
He paid tribute to the three outgoing councillors who did not seek election: John Browne, PJ Reilly and Gerry Warnock.
Cathaoirleach Casey thanked the Executive, staff and CEO Paddy Mahon of the council: “There is so much work going on here in Longford and it is driven by Paddy and his team. They really have a successful team here in Longford and we look forward to keeping that moving.”
He highlighted the work of returning officer Mary Gouldsbury to ensure an accurate count: “When you go back over three different recounts and the results remain the same it's a credit to the staff and their professionalism.”
Fine Gael's Peggy Nolan was also appointed as Leas Cathaoirleach of the Council after a proposal by Paul Ross and seconded by Paraic Brady.
Cllr Casey will hold the post until next year. Under the agreement brokered, the other councillors to take the chair of the council will be Garry Murtagh (year two), Paraic Brady (year three), Turlough McGovern (year four) and Gerry Hagan (year five).
The deal also sees the FG/Independent grouping take the majority of posts on the committees, steering groups and task forces that oversee council policy in the next five years.