Ladies Day as women take top County Council posts

IT was Ladies’ Day at Galway Co Council’s first post-election meeting, with two Tuam Municipal Area female councillors contesting the top position of Cathaoirleach for the first time since the authority was founded in 1898, and a third woman winning the contest for vice-chair.
This achievement is even more remarkable given that women still hold only six of the 39 seats (15.4 per cent) on the enlarged Co Council. The meeting was held in NUIG on Friday last, as the County Hall chamber has to be reconfigured to accommodate the increased number of councillors.
Fianna Fáil’s Cllr Mary Hoade got Ladies’ Day under way when she was presented with her chain of office as Cathaoirleach for the first of the five one-year terms of the new council. Presenting her with her chain of office was Connemara Cllr Eileen Mannion, who stood in temporarily as chair following Mayor Liam Carroll’s official step-down.