A hearty congratulations to the new Mayor of Kilkenny, Andrew McGuinness. After topping the poll in June, he has been chosen by his city councillor colleagues, for a third time in the role. In previous years he has proven a popular mayor — energetic and giving of his time to a huge variety of people, groups, as well as visitors to the city.
There’s no doubt, the people of Kilkenny love their mayors. It can seem like a quaint notion at times, but if you want to celebrate or hold an event, open a shop, launch something in Kilkenny, there’s a few people you generally want in attendance — a Kilkenny hurler (past or present), for example, perhaps the Rose of Kilkenny, and usually the mayor! Kilkenny has an unbroken record of local government since 1231, when its first council was elected, and it has a proud history of mayors and sovereigns. We’ve had some great people holding office in recent years, and over the last 800 years, mayors have included the likes of Shees, Butlers, Rothes — names very much associated with Kilkenny.
And the gentleman who held office both in 1803 and 1813? No doubt a class act. But - with no disrespect intended to the current mayor or any of his predecessors and successors - is there any merit to considering a directly-elected mayor? At present, the mayor is essentially decided by a pact system whereby the controlling parties decide who gets a turn during the council’s five-year term. For many years, this was a Fine Gael-Labour pact, with F.
