Ladies Day for County Council as women take both mayoral positions

Galway Bay fm newsroom – Tuam Area Councillor Mary Hoade has been elected as the new Mayor of County Galway
The Fianna Fail Councillor was given the Cathaoirleach chain at the annual general meeting of the council which is being held in Bailey Allen Hall at NUIG this afternoon.
The refurbishment of the chamber on Prospect Hill to accommodate the extra 9 cllrs from 30 to 39 is not yet complete.
Cllr Hoade was nominated for the position of Mayor, now known as Cathaoirleach, by Fianna Fail Cllr Michael Connolly. Her nomination was seconded by newcomer Donagh Kilalea.
Independent newcomer Karey McHugh from Tuam was nominated by Sinn Fein Cllr Dermot Connolly and seconded by Independent Cllr Shaun Cunniffe but failed to secure enough votes.
The pact involved 12 Fine Gael members and 12 Fianna Fail members.
Newcomer for Fine Gael Niamh Byrne has been elected as Deputy Mayor. She was nominated by Cllr Jimmy McClearn and seconded by Cllr Tom McHugh.
Newcomer James Charity was also nominated by Cllr Jim Cuddy but failed to secure sufficient votes.
Meanwhile, Independent Cllr Donal Lyons is on track to become Mayor of the city later this evening.
He’ll be elected under a pact between the 4 Fine Gael, 2 Labour and 5 independents, 3 of whom are former PDs
The pact was formalised last weekend amid a lot of what cllrs have termed ‘bickering and too-ing and fro-ing.’
The first meeting of the new city council gets underway at 6 this evening in the refurbished chamber to accommodate the extra three councillors from 15 to 18.