Galway set a new political record last night, when the first daughter to succeed her mother as mayor was elected in City Hall.
Progressive Democrat councillor, Ms Terry O'Flaherty, was voted in as Galway's new mayor, 17 years after her mother, Ms Bridie O'Flaherty last held the post.
A delighted Tánaiste, Ms Harney, conveyed her congratulations to the councillor, while one of the party's father figures, former Galway West TD, Mr Bobby Molloy, was present to witness the event.
Also present was Ms Bridie O'Flaherty herself, and several members of the extended family. Her own inaugural term as Galway mayor was from 1980 to 1981, and she served a second term from 1985 to 1986, when she followed Fianna Fáil's Mr Bobby Molloy of Galway West into the Progressive Democrats.
Galway poet, Rita Ann Higgins, immortalised her tenure in verse back in 1986, when she wrote of how the dollar "swerved two points two cents shy of the pound" in The Day Bridie O'Flaherty was Made Mayor.
"Your sister was upstairs chanting to the god Springsteen on the headphones. Your father was in the Labour Exchange waiting for the statues to move," she wrote in the poem which was dedicated to her own daughter, Jennifer.
Cllr Terry O'Flaherty had recently served as the city's deputy mayor, and her mother, Bridie, held the chain of office on two occasions.
"The Progressive Democrats have always sought to increase female participation in politics and I am delighted to see Terry achieving the same coveted position held by her mother, Bridie back in the 1980s," the Tánaiste said in a statement.
"The O'Flaherty name has been synonymous with political life in Galway for the past forty years. I am delighted that Bridie O'Flaherty is still in good spirits.
"She and Terry should serve as an inspiration and encouragement to all Irish women interested in entering public life. I wish Terry every success at the outset of what should be a very exciting and fulfilling year, as Mayor of Galway."
Ms O'Flaherty, says that litter and traffic will be her two main priorities - Galway having won the dubious honour of being the dirtiest city in the State in a recent survey.
She says she will also do her best to solve the city's growing traffic problems, and will work to "alleviate congestion".
