Carlow native becomes first female mayor of town in Germany
A Carlow native has been inaugurated as the first female mayor of Breuberg, a town south of Frankfurt, Germany.
Deirdre Heckler, whose maiden name is Dooley, from Highfield in Carlow Town first went to Germany in 1990 as a student and has remained there ever since.
Speaking to KCLR, Mayor Heckler said that she always wanted to go to Germany because she often had German people, employed by Braun, living near her in the 1980s.
"I think something must have triggered that stage in my head that I thought, yes, I'd like the German way of life; the structure, the punctuality, all that sort of thing.
"I think that must have done something with me in my childhood years."
Deirdre has been in local politics for the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) for 16 years and last September was chosen as the towns mayoral candidate and was elected directly.