Cllr John Leahy is the new Chair of Birr MD
New Chair wants to see more residential & industrial development in Birr Town
CLLR John Leahy was elected the new Cathaoirleach of Birr Municipal District during the Council's recent AGM in Birr Civic Offices.
Prior to the election of the new Cathaoirleach, Cllr Peter Ormond (Fianna Fáil) said he wanted to pay tribute to the outgoing Chair Cllr Hughie Egan (Fine Gael) “for the way he has chaired Birr MD over the last 12 months. You have been very fair Hughie and you treated all equally. You had a great year.”
Cllr Ormond then proposed Cllr Leahy for the Chair. “John has done a great job as Cathaoirleach of Offaly County Council over the last year and I am sure he will do an equally good job as Cathaoirleach of Birr MD.”
Cllr Seán Maher (Sinn Féin) also praised Cllr Egan for being an excellent Chair and seconded the nomination to appoint Cllr Leahy as the new Chair.
There were no other nominations.
Ann Dillon, Director of Services, thanked Cllr Egan for his co-operation during the year and for being a very effective Chair.
“It was a blast,” said Cllr Egan, modestly, about his 12 months in the Chair. “I enjoyed it. It was very interesting and I learned a lot. It is enjoyable being Chair of the Birr Municipal District and it's a privilege to do the job. I wish to thank my fellow Councillors and the Council staff. When you were as raw as I was coming in, they were very helpful!”
Cllr Leahy said Cllr Egan had done “a fantastic job. It's not an easy role being Chairperson of the MD. It was nice to see Cllr Egan bringing a nice bit of humour to our meetings. He brought a lot of knowledge and wisdom to the role but he was also willing to learn. I accompanied Cllr Egan and Cllr Noel Cribbin to New York for the St Patrick's Day Parade and I got to know Cllr Egan well. What was obvious to me was that he loves being a public representative. What is also obvious is that he's a real team player.
“Birr MD is a great Council. Everything we do here in the MD is consensus driven. Party politics doesn't enter into it.
“I also want to make a correction. At the official opening of Bóthar na Laochra this morning I said Cllr Ormond is the oldest serving member of the Council. This is not true. He is the longest serving member, not the oldest! There's a big difference! My apologies to Cllr Ormond.”
Cllr Seán Maher was then proposed and seconded to be Leas Cathaoirleach. Cllr Ormond put forward the proposal for Cllr Maher to be the Leas Cathaoirleach. “Seán is living in Birr Town and he has a lot of experience. He serves the area well.” Cllr Audrey Hennessy Kennedy seconded.
“Thank you for your confidence in me,” remarked Cllr Maher. “I will be as approachable as I possibly can.”
Cllr Leahy congratulated Cllr Maher on his new role.
Continuing his reflections on Birr MD, Cllr Leahy pointed out that the Councillors enjoy a good relationship with the Council staff. “The lines of communication are good. The staff never leave us in the dark.”
He praised the Area Engineer Brian Keenaghan for doing “great work on the roads.”
He praised Deputies Clendennen and McCormack who, he said, “are doing a lot of work for us behind the scenes. They are very approachable.
“Thanks to The Midland Tribune for reporting our meetings. People often say the print media is dead, but it's far from dead. It remains very important. We wouldn't be able to get our message out there without it.”
The new Cathaoirleach said the Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) is very popular with the general public. He wondered how many of the large number of applications they could deal with this year. The Local Improvement Scheme is a state-funded programme that helps local authorities repair and upgrade non-public, private roads and laneways.
He also pointed out that the Northern Distributor Road opens up new land which could be zoned for industrial or residential development. “I would like to see it being used for more economic developments. The government are putting money on the table at the moment to activate sites for economic developments.”