Agenda and minutes

It was AGREED that the outgoing Cathaoirleach, Councillor C. Devlin, would preside until the election of An Cathaoirleach.

Outgoing Cathaoirleach’s Speech:

“If I may say some remarks for myself for last twelve months I would like to thank the Members for their support of the last year.

This week in fact marked the thirteenth years for many of the class of 2004 who were elected to this Council.

Obviously to be elected then last year as Cathaoirleach was a particular highlight for me personally and I wanted to thank the Members for their support that particular evening and it was certainly a highlight of my time as a Councillor in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown.

At the outset I wish to thank Members of the public who supported me throughout that period.  I would also like to thank Members of the Fianna Fail party for their continued support as well as Members here in the Chamber for your support during the past year.

You may recall in last June I had set three priorities, one of them was Housing, Enterprise was the other one and Civic Engagement was the third.

Under Housing I was very pleased to see the turning of the sods on several sites around the County, to officially open new social housing units in particular the turning of the sods in Glenageary, Sallynoggin, Mounttown & Nutgrove.  Then there was the refurbishment of 34 one bed units in Rochestown House Phase 2 and Phase 3 is currently under construction.  There were also houses and apartments in Cromlech Close, which I had the privilege of launching with the then Minister for Housing, Simon Coveney.

On 9 February as Cathaoirleach I was honoured to turn the sod on this County’s largest ever site which was Cherrywood.  This will yield up to 8,000 new homes of which a minimum of 10% will be social housing.  While recognising we still have a momentous challenge ahead of us on the housing front we are one of the Councils in the state with one of the highest number of construction sites at present.  We also require an affordable housing scheme to be introduced in this County and I think, we Councillors need to recognise a pressing need under this programme and I am confident that we will continue to push for further schemes and expedite delivery of those which are already in the pipeline and for into the future.

As another priority on the Enterprise front I was particularly pleased to work very closely with both the Dún Laogahire- Rathdown Chamber and various business groups across our County.  In November 2016 I welcomed a visiting delegation from Denmark who were hosting a conference here in Dún Laoghaire town.  In October the successful results of the plebiscite for Sandyford BID (Business Improvement District) was passed and I had the privilege of co-launching their business initiative in Sandyford in March this year.

We have seen tremendous efforts being made across our County and is essential that we maintain those close co-operation links with Council here and those respective groups and  ...  view the full minutes text for item C/321

An Cathaoirleach, Councillor C. Devlin invited nominations for the election of An Cathaoirleach.

Councillor T. Murphy was proposed by Councillor S.Brennan and seconded by Councillor J.Bailey.

Councillor M. Halpin was proposed by Councillor S. O’Brien and seconded by Councillor C. Smyth.

As there were two nominations for the position of An Cathaoirleach a roll call vote took places, the results of which is as follows:

FOLLOWING THE ROLL CALL VOTE COUNCILLOR TOM MURPHY WAS DECLARED ELECTED AS CATHAOIRLEACH TO HOLD OFFICE UNTIL THE ELECTION OF HIS SUCCESSOR.

COUNCILLOR TOM MURPHY WAS INVESTED BY THE OUTGOING CATHAOIRLEACH WITH THE CHAIN OF OFFICE.

The new Cathaoirleach then took the Chair.

Cathaoirleach’s Acceptance Speech

“Thank you Members, thank you very much.

First of all I’d like to thank all the Members here for supporting me today.  I just want to say to you all, the Councillors that I will do my best for you all.  I want to treat you all in a fair and impartial manner and I want to do for you and the Council my best.  Thank you very much.

I also want to thank my family and friends who have come here today and for them all for supporting me as well.  I am very proud as well that my father who was a Councillor for eighteen years and my family for supporting him.  I know a lot of the Members here would have known him.  He never became a Cathaoirleach, he tried a few times but it never happened for him.  So I am very proud for myself and my family that I’m elected here today.  I want to thank all my family members for being here today.

Next thing of course is Councillor Cormac Devlin, I want to thank Cormac for being such a fantastic Cathaoirleach, you’re probably an impossible act to follow, I think Cormac, to tell you the truth, you did a fantastic job in promoting Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown,  the County, you really did a brilliant job.

I suppose some of the things I’d like to see happen during my term of office and which I’d like to promote.  The first item I would like to see us promoting is the S2S; I think that it is really important that’s progressed very far throughout Dublin itself.  We’re very important and one of the final links of that and it’s something I think  ...  view the full minutes text for item C/322

An Cathaoirleach, Councillor Tom Murphy presented the outgoing Cathaoirleach, Councillor C. Devlin with a replica of the medallion of office to commemorate his year as An Cathaoirleach.

An Cathaoirleach, Councillor Tom Murphy invited nominations for the office of Leas Chathaoirleach.

Councillor K. Feeney was proposed by Councillor J. Cuffe and seconded by Councillor M. Baker.

Councillor D. Kingston was proposed by Councillor C. Smyth and seconded by Councillor S. O’Brien.

As there was two nominations for the position of An Leas Chathaoirleach a roll call vote took place, the result of which was as follows:

FOLLOWING THE ROLL CALL VOTE COUNCILLOR KATE FEENEY WAS DECLARED AS LEAS CHATHAOIRLEACH TO HOLD OFFICE UNTIL THE ELECTION OF HER SUCCESSOR.

An Leas Chathaoirleach, Councillor Kate Keeney thanked the Members for their support.

It was AGREED to RE-ENTER Item 3 to the July meeting of the County Council.

The meeting concluded at 6.05 p.m.