County mayor reveals plan to stand as Dáil candidate

The newly-elected mayor of Co Cork has declared his intention to be a candidate in the next general election, but has not decided what constituency he will contest.

John Paul O’Shea made history yesterday by becoming the first Independent in the council’s 116-year history to hold the chain of office. The 31-year-old’s power base straddles two constituencies, Cork North-West and Cork East.

The new mayor said he was committed to running for the Dáil but will not declare his preferred constituency until August.

However, it is most likely he will choose Cork North-West, due to his close family connections there .

Mr O’Shea got 4,374 first preference votes in the last local election, the third- highest in the country.

He defeated Sinn Féin’s Paul Hayes by 41 votes to eight after he got support from all the other parties.

Kieran McCarthy, who was expelled from the Sinn Féin party earlier in the week, attended the meeting and took his usual seat. However, there was no sign of Melissa Mullane, who was suspended from the party.

Mr McCarthy said he had voted for “Hayes the person, not the party” and then immediately left the chamber.

Outgoing mayor Alan Coleman said it had been a great honour to serve in what was “a demanding but fulfilling role”.

Just 24 hours earlier, he quit the Fianna Fáil party and declared he would be running as an Independent general election candidate in Cork South-West.

Skibbereen-based Joe Carroll (FF) was elected deputy mayor, taking over from Tim Collins (Ind). Mr Carroll defeated Mr Hayes on a vote of 28-7 after FG abstained.