Labour councillor Emer Costello has been elected Lord Mayor of Dublin City following a voting agreement between her party and Fine Gael.
Ms Costello, who has been serving as deputy Lord Mayor, is one of 19 Labour councillors on the council.
She was supported at tonight’s mayoral elections by Fine Gael’s 12 councillors and Sinn Féin’s seven. She replaces outgoing Lord Mayor of Dublin Cllr Eibhlin Byrne.
Ms Costello, who is married to Labour TD for Dublin Central Joe Costello, was re-elected to Dublin City Council in the north inner city ward on the first count with 2,084 votes.
Fine Gael Cllr Dara Murphy was tonight elected Lord Mayor of Cork in succession to Cllr Brian Bermingham after Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Labour decided to continue with their pact which has seen the three parties share the mayoralty for the past three decades.
There had been speculation that the pact arrangement might be sundered given that Fianna Fáil lost four of its ten seats and was replaced as the largest party on the council by Fine Gael who held its eight seats with Labour gaining a seat to increase its representation to seven.
A former Progressive Democrats councillor has been elected new mayor of Galway city.
Independent city councillor Declan McDonnell was voted in for a year’s term last evening under an arrangement between Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and three independent councillors. He served previously as mayor from 1999 to 2000.
Green Party Cllr Malcolm Noonan was elected Mayor of Kilkenny with the support of Fine Gael and Labour to the evident displeasure of Fianna Fáil councillors. In addition to being re-elected a member of the Borough Council, Mr Noonan was also re-elected to Kilkenny County Council ten days ago – one of only three Green Party councillors nationwide to survive.
Labour’s Jim McGarry was elected mayor of Sligo after his party formed a pact with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael .
After defeating Sinn Féin’s Chris MacManus by a margin of eight to four, Cllr McGarry said his priorities would be ensuring the future of Sligo General Hospital and the jobs issue.
Fine Gael Councillor Kevin Kiely looks set to be elected the 813th mayor of Limerick.
The chairman of Limerick’s joint policing committee lost out on the post last year by a single vote, when Independent councillor John Gilligan was elected after a pact between Labour and Fine Gael fell through.