Mayor Ger Darcy, NTCC
Rosemary Joyce, Senior Executive Officer, North Tipperary County Councils reports.
The final Annual Meeting of North Tipperary County Council was held in St. Patrick’s College, Thurles, Co Tipperary today. (Monday 24th June 2013.)
At the meeting Councillor Ger Darcy was unanimously selected to be the last Mayor of North Tipperary County Council. (Next year, 2014, will see the amalgamation of North and South Tipperary County Councils, to form a new Tipperary County Council covering the full county of Tipperary.)
Councillor Darcy (Fine Gael) was first elected to North Tipperary County Council in June 1991. His father, the late Jim Darcy, was also a member of the Council and between them they have represented the people of North Tipperary for over 40 years. On the day Ger’s wife Noelle and several other family members were present to mark the historic occasion.
Cllr. Darcy was proposed as Mayor by Cllr. Denis Ryan and jointly seconded by Cllr. John Kennedy and Cllr. Jim Casey. In his initial address to the Council, Cllr. Darcy said that it was a huge honour for him to be unanimously selected as Mayor on what was a special and historic occasion.
He recalled the huge changes that have taken place in the 114 years of local government and the various people who contributed to those changes, starting with the first Chairman of the Council, Cllr. Thomas Corcoran. Local Government had functioned in times of war, times of peace and in times of serious economic difficulties. Every generation had their own difficulties and challenges. However, never had there been as much change as the changes in democracy that are now taking place with the amalgamation of North and South Tipperary County Council, the changes in the Dáil Constituencies, the amalgamation of the VECs to form the Tipperary Education & Training Board, the reduction in the number of regions to three, the abolition of the Town Councils and the establishment of Irish Water. Cllr. Darcy spoke of the need to embrace this change and to be positive about it, so as to ensure the smooth running of the Councils and the delivery of services to the people they represent.
Mayor Darcy went on to stress the need for positivity and to look to the future and job creation in the interests of the young people of the area. The country is turning the corner of economic recovery and Tipperary needs to take advantage of this, by working together to make the changes beneficial. He spoke of the importance of tourism and considered that Tipperary has a lot of untapped potential with a wide range of activities including cycling, golf, walking and equestrian. The changes in relation to Shannon Airport would benefit Tipperary and the region. He also referred to the importance of the rural economy, farming, food production and processing, artisan foods and organic producers.The amalgamation would present opportunities for Tipperary in areas such as Foreign Direct Investment. Tipperary would be the joint third largest local authority in Ireland and had assets in terms of national routes and rail lines. Tipperary would be strategically located and have a strengthened voice at national level.
All the members present congratulated Cllr. Darcy & many tributes were also paid to the outgoing Mayor Cllr. Michael O’Meara. Cllr. Virginia O’ Dowd was unanimously chosen as Deputy Mayor.
Mr. Joe MacGrath, County Manager, congratulated the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor and promised his full support and that of his staff in what would be a busy and most challenging year.
We wish Mayor Darcy every success in his new appointment.
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