FORMER Mayor of Clare, Patricia McCarthy has announced that she will not be contesting the Local Elections this May. Currently she is the only female elected representative on Clare County Council.
Councillor McCarthy (Independent), who is also a former Mayor of Shannon, has been a member of Clare County Council since 1979 and has been represented on Shannon Town Council since it was first established in 1982.
Other high profile local public representatives who have announced this week they will not be seeking re-election include former mayors of Clare and Ennis Town Council, Tommy Brennan and Peter Considine, as well as the current Mayor of Ennis, Mary Coote Ryan.
Commenting on her decision, Mrs McCarthy said, “I feel the time is now right for me to step away from politics. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time as a representative for the Shannon Electoral Area and indeed, for County Clare during my term as Mayor in 2007-2008.
“I want to thank the Electorate for having selected me as their representative over four separate decades. I have been honoured to serve on both Clare County Council and Shannon Town Council and would like to thank the staff, both past and present, of both local authorities for their assistance during this time.”
The three Ennis councillors, who are retiring , spoke of the faith which the electorate had placed in them and said it was a privilege to serve the community over a long number of years.
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.