The reluctant Mayor of Clare

COUNCILLOR Christy Curtin and former Taoiseach Jack Lynch may not have always shared the same political ideals or ideology but both of them were reluctant to seek the highest office.
It took a lot of persuasion to get Jack Lynch to run for the Fianna Fáil leadership in the midst of major political upheaval in the party back in the ’80s.
Unlike most county councillors, Councillor Curtin never actively canvassed or sought the position of chairman or Mayor of Clare despite being put forward against numerous Fianna Fáil candidates in the ’80s and ’90s when the Soldiers of Destiny held an overall majority in the council chamber.
In fact, The Clare Champion has learned that it took some arm twisting by his colleagues in the Independent grouping for the retired Miltown Malbay secondary school teacher to accept their proposal, despite serving as a local politician for 31 years.
“I suppose you could say I am a bit like Jack Lynch – the reluctant Taoiseach,” he joked. “Having accepted this great honour, I will give the job 100%. I think it is important that Independents and small parties must be represented at the highest level.
“The position of mayor has eluded some great county councillors such as Paddy Hogan, PJ Burke, Seán O’Connor and Martin Lafferty. Tommy Brennan negotiated a power-sharing arrangement back in 2004 and a number of Independents voted with Fianna Fáil for this deal, which succeeded against the odds,” he said.
This deal paved the way for the election of Councillor Tony Mulcahy [Fine Gael] as the outgoing mayor in the new council, Councillor Curtin on Monday last, a Fianna Fáil Mayor in 2011 and 2012 and another Fine Gael in the last year of the council in the final year of the authority in 2013.
At times, Councillor Curtin must have felt he was coming up against a brick walls when he lost a number of contests for the chairman or mayoral position narrowly by four votes and two votes on different occasions.
His first taste of elections was in 1974 when he narrowly failed to get elected in the Miltown Malbay Electoral Area bowing out in the last count as his transfers helped elect Fine Gael Councillor Johnny Daly to the exclusion of Jackie Keane by just eight votes.
Five years later, he made the all-important breakthrough when he was elected in the Miltown Malbay area on the fourth count. He subsequently topped the poll three times in the Kilrush area and once in the Miltown area including the last election where he secured an impressive 1,733 first preferences.
Councillor Curtin was proposed by Councillor Patricia McCarthy, who described him as a very honest hard-working and diligent councillor who was totally committed to public service.
Councillor McCarthy said Councillor Curtin had an ability to bring people together when it came to bringing a project to fruition.
His brother-in-law Councillor P J Kelly (FF) seconded the nomination and noted he had served a very long apprenticeship over the last 31 years and fully deserved the position.
A number of councillors stated the honour for Councillor Curtin was long overdue, comments endorsed by his wife, Ann and daughter, Sorcha.
Councillor Michael Hillery predicted the new mayor would bring his own skills to the job having shown a great ability to secure a large number of votes in different electoral areas.
Councillor John Crowe felt justice was done, while Councillor Gerry Flynn felt it was an awful shame that it had taken 31 years for his ability to be recognised.
Tributes were also paid to Councillor Michael Kelly who was unanimously elected as deputy mayor following a nomination by Fianna Fáil colleague Richard Nagle, which was seconded by Councillor Michael Hillery.
Meanwhile, former Clare Councillor Martin Lafferty who was at Councillor Curtin’s side at council meetings up to 2009 when he had to opt out of local politics due to ill-health, was delighted with his colleague’s elevation as mayor.
The Lisdoonvarna man recalled he was one of the Independents, who successfully negotiated a power-sharing agreement with Fianna Fáil back in 2004, which had benefitted the council and Clare people.
Having served in the council chamber for over 30 years, he said the local authority chamber was not a nice place to be because of the “one-way traffic” with the election of Fianna Fáil mayors from 1974 to 2003.
“I hope this power-sharing arrangement continues even if a political party gains an overall majority after the next local election. A completely different atmosphere has prevailed since this new arrangement was brought in,” he said.
The two public representatives met for the first time when Councillor Curtin was appointed as a agricultural science teacher in Ennistymon Vocational School before he was appointed to St Michael’s Vocational College, Kilmihil.
Mr Lafferty said the two of them became friends very quickly as they both shared an independent mind on public life and politics and they also saw how local politics operated at Clare Vocational Educational Committee.
Christy Curtin was a member of the Labour Party back in the ’70s and successfully lobbied Environment Minister Jim Tully with Martin Lafferty to change the rule to allow vocational educational teachers to stand for local authority elections. 
“Christy Curtin is highly dedicated, honest and full of integrity. Christy has his feet firmly on the ground. I know he will carry out his duties in a very good honest fashion as mayor
“The Labour Party asked Christy and I to run for the Dáil in 1992 but both of us declined,” he said.

Outgoing mayor criticises number of Mid-West government agencies

GOVERNMENT agencies and semi-state bodies in the Mid-West should be answerable to the Clare county manager, Tom Coughlan in a new forum, according to outgoing Mayor of Clare, Councillor Tony Mulcahy.
Councillor Mulcahy, who handed over the chain of office to Councillor Christy Curtin at the council’s annual general meeting on Monday, has also called for a radical reduction in the number of statutory job-creation and tourism bodies in the Mid-West.
“There are too many agencies looking after governance in the Mid-West. We have Enterprise Ireland, the IDA, Shannon Development, the County Enterprise Board and FAS looking after job creation in the region.
“When it comes to tourism, we have Shannon Development, Tourism Ireland, Bord Fáilte and a whole raft of sectoral tourism groups. We can’t afford all these agencies and they need to be amalgamated into a new regional structures.
“The county manager is the only chief executive officer who is answerable to county councillors at a public meeting every month. I would like to see a scenario where the managers of different agencies would be answerable in a new forum to county managers in every county,” he said.
Looking back on his year, Councillor Mulcahy described the recent civic reception for Clare’s Special Olympic athletes who won nine medals in just ten events at the Special Olympic Ireland Games was the highlight.
It was one of his last official functions as mayor and it was a particularly special moment for him as his daughter, Colleen, was one of the honoured athletes.
In spite of cuts in wages for council workers, Councillor Mulcahy was impressed by the response of council employees during the flooding and big freeze-up in the county.
County manager, Tom Coughlan told the meeting that the outgoing mayor had applied private sector thinking to the public sector.
Mr Coughlan said the mayor had adopted a partnership approach between the executive and elected members, which had proven to be very beneficial.
“You set a very fast pace. As the year went on, you didn’t slow down and if anything, you sped up. You can look back on your year with great pride and a sense of satisfaction,” he said.
Tributes were paid from councillors from all parties for the work carried out by Councillor Mulcahy during the year.
Councillor Martin Conway praised his work for people with disabilities and felt he had the ability to ensure equality was at the centre of everything.
Councillor Patricia McCarthy said the outgoing mayor had seen the county through difficult times during the severe flooding and frost.
The mayor’s ability to be inclusive and bring members together to meet various challenges was praised by Councillor Richard Nagle.
Although the mayor was born in Newcastle West, Councillor Pat Daly was impressed with the strong stance he took opposing the extension of Limerick City’s boundary into South-East Clare.