Labour party councillor Brendan Carr was elected as the new Lord Mayor of Dublin on Monday night.
Dublin city councillors supported him by 43 votes from Sinn Féin, Fine Gael, the Green Party and Independents, as well as his own party.
Councillor Tina Mac Veigh (People Before Profit-Anti Austerity Alliance) received nine votes and councillor Paul McAuliffe (Fianna Fáil) got eight.
In his first speech as Mayor, Mr Carr said that following the ’Brexit’ referendum in the UK, he would contact Mayor of
London, Sadiq Khan "to establish a working group to ensure..strong bonds" were maintained between the capitals.
"Unfortunately, there was also another exit from Europe in recent days," he said referring to the Republic of Ireland soccer team. Mr Carr said he would invite the players to a civic reception in the Mansion House. He said he would like to honour all of those involved and the fans " who once again showed the world the right way to support your country".
He also said he hoped to introduce a one per cent tax on each hotel bed in the city, to be ring-fenced to support arts.
Another initiative he planned was to commission a plaque for businesses that paid their employees a living wage, that they could display “prominently”.
A number of councillors who supported Ms Mac Veigh's nomination said it was "wrong" that Mr Carr's election would be as a result of a pact between Sinn Fein and the Labour party, to 'rotate' the mayoral office between them. Mr Carr replaces cllr Criona ni Dhallaigh (Sinne Fein). Cllr Eilis Ryan (Workers Party) said there was no reference to politics in the election of Mr Carr and that it was an example of "positions being doled out..behind closed doors".
“Anything that is predetermined in politics is wrong and needs to be challenged”.
Cllr Damien O’Farrell (Independent) who voted for Mr Carr, said Cllr Ryan made a “fair comment”. He said he was present during the deal made between Sinn Fein and the Labour party, and “there wasn’t any talk about homelessness” or other policy issues.
Meanwhile in Co Kerry the eldest daughter of the Independent TD Danny Healy-Rae has lost out in her bid to take over the chair of the municipal district of Killarney. Instead, and unexpectedly, the position has gone to Independent councillor Brendan Cronin.
