EILEEN Sheppard will be installed as the new mayor of Clonakilty after the town chose its new first citizens for the next five years.
Ms Sheppard will begin her term as mayor after a public ceremony at Astna Square at 7pm this Thursday (June 13th) and a general invitation to the public has been extended by the mayoral committee.
The people of Clonakilty weren’t finished with voting after last Friday’s local and European elections, as they also got to vote in the mayoral election the following day, the third such election in 10 years.
Clonakilty has the unique distinction of electing its own town mayor since 2014, and it’s a duty the people of the town take very seriously, since the abolition of town councils. Five candidates were elected from a field of nine and they will hold the title for one year each.
Voting took place at Scoil na mBuachaillí in Clonakilty from 10am to 7pm on Saturday with 1,722 locals voting for nine non-political community candidates on the ballot paper. More than 30 volunteers managed the ballot boxes ensuring voters received their voting papers throughout the day.
The counting of votes took place the following day in O’Donovan’s Hotel, while Jerome JC O’Sullivan was the returning officer on duty. The volunteers who counted the votes were Ger O’Driscoll, Marian Cadogan, Donal O’Donovan, and Ted Murphy. Just three ballot papers out of the total 1,722 were deemed invalid, while the quota was 287.
The mayors will take up the post in the order they were elected. Eileen topped the poll with 516 first preference votes, while Conan O’Donovan received 317 first preference votes and both were elected.
Those elected to take up the position after Eileen were Yousuf Janab Ali (2026-27), James White (2027-28), and Anthony McDermott (2028-29).
Dúchas Clonakilty Heritage were thanked for organising the third mayoral election since 2014 and they in turn thanked all the volunteers who helped out on both the polling day, and at the count on the following day.
