Ferris’s daughter set to become Kerry mayor

THE daughter of Kerry North Sinn Féin TD Martin Ferris is set to become Kerry mayor as part of a deal with Fianna Fáil.

Student Toireasa Ferris, 25, is expected to be elected to the chair at tomorrow’s annual meeting of the 27-member Kerry County Council, in Tralee, with a large group of republican supporters in the public gallery.

Following last year’s local elections, Fianna Fail’s Ned O’Sullivan won the mayorship in what was described as a “technical arrangement” between 11 FF councillors, two SF councillors and the two Healy-Rae brothers who go under the banner of Independent FF.

The deal gave a comfortable majority to FF, whose members will have the mayoralty for three of the five years of the council’s term. One of the Healy-Raes is due to occupy the chair in the fourth year.

Ms Ferris had been co-opted onto her father’s county council seat prior to last year’s elections.

A graduate in law and European studies, she is in the final stages of a master’s degree in human rights and criminal justice at Queen’s University, Belfast.

The last time Sinn Féin held the chair was in 1970/’71 when the incumbent was the late Cllr Redmond O’Sullivan, from Killarney.

With the election of Martin Ferris to the Dáil, in 2002, Sinn Féin has gained a firm foothold in the Kerry North constituency, where it has five elected councillors.