Cork mayor follows in late father’s footsteps

A VETERAN Fine Gael politician followed in his late father’s footsteps to become lord mayor of Cork last night.

Cllr Brian Bermingham, 61, was elected unopposed under the 25-year pact which sees the office rotate between Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour. Party colleague Cllr Patricia Gosch was elected deputy mayor.

Sinn Féin and the Greens expressed their opposition to the pact and Socialist Cllr Mick Barry walked out of the meeting in protest.

Mr Bermingham then accepted the chain of office from outgoing lord mayor, Donal Counihan, on the 40th anniversary of his late father John’s election as first citizen.

Former freeman of Cork, John Bermingham, was a founder member of the internationally recognised Cope Foundation.

Watched from the public gallery by his wife Elma, and their children Gillian, John, Brian and Louise, and his 93-year-old uncle Sony, Mr Bermingham said it was a very nostalgic occasion for his family.

He also used his wide-ranging speech to flag the need for the city to extend its boundary into the metropolitan Cork area.

Among his specially invited guests in City Hall were county mayor Tom Sheahan and county manager Martin Riordan, with whom the city will have to negotiate over the boundary extension.

However, Mr Barry criticised what he called the lord mayor’s “mega-salary”.

He said Mr Bermingham will earn more than US presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama earns as a Senator and more than Scotland’s first minister Alex Salmond.

A US senator earns $169,300 per year — about €108,500.

The lord mayor’s basic salary is €99,000 which, when coupled with the €17,000 “representational payment” to which all councillors are entitled, brings the overall payment to the lord mayor to €116,000. The lord mayor’s car, his driver’s salary, and expenses for hosting social events are all extra.

Mr Barry described the salary as another example of the “loads-a-money culture” prevalent among the political establishment and said the salary would “rankle with the broad mass of ordinary people”.

But Mr Bermingham dismissed the criticism and asked city manager Joe Gavin for practical support to give the office the “necessary resources needed for the office to be highly effective in this modern world”.

Mr Bermingham was first elected to the city council in June 1979. He lives in Bishopstown and represents the South West Ward.

He works for the Vocational Education Committee in the area of continuing adult education.

Tributes were also paid to Mr Counihan as he stepped down.

PD Cllr Mairín Quill said his decision to confer the freedom of Cork last Friday on John Major and Albert Reynolds will rank among the highlights of his term of office, along with his intercultural celebration for migrant communities after the St Patrick’s Day parade.