FG duo battle it out for role of county mayor

It’s a two horse race to become the next mayor of Co Cork, according to sources within Fine Gael which has control over the county council.

What is certain is that the current incumbent, Youghal-based Cllr Barbara Murray, will pass her chain of office to a FG man when her term expires later this month.

Party sources say that Cllr Noel O’Connor (Mallow) is slight favourite over Courtmacsherry-based Cllr John O’Sullivan.

O’Connor, 62, a married father of five, has served on the council since 1993 and is currently the mayor of Mallow,

He also held the chairmanship of Co Cork VEC for five years and is a representative on the standing council of the Irish Vocation Education Committee.

The full-time public representative said that if elected he’d be able to dedicate a lot of his time to mayoral duties.

He said he’d have two main priorities if elected to the top job.

“I’d like to develop the tourist product more in Co Cork. I also want to work on social inclusion, especially to try and make life easier for those who are disabled,” Cllr O’Connor said.

Cllr O’Sullivan, 48, a married father of three young children, was first elected onto the local authority in 2004.

It was his second attempt at winning a seat in the Skibbereen Electoral Area.

The dairy farmer joined Fine Gael when he was 18.

He is currently a member of the board of Barryroe Co-Op and chairman of the board of Tralee-based Stauntons Foods, which employs 150 people.

“If elected mayor of Co Cork I would like to develop more rural enterprise and I have a number of potential projects in mind,” he said.

“I’d also like to encourage and support communities to help themselves. I’m a strong believer that local authorities should be the deliverer of government services on the ground,” Cllr O’Sullivan added.

The party’s 23 members will vote for their candidate on Jun 13. The vote will take place behind closed doors in County Hall. They will then put forward their contestant at the annual general meeting of the council which takes place later in the month.

With the aid of FG-leaning independents it is a foregone conclusion that their candidate will be elected as mayor.