Christopher O'Sullivan is elected Mayor of County Cork

West Cork poll-topper Christopher O'Sullivan has been elected as the first Cork county Mayor of the new term.

The Fianna Fáil councillor's bid for the role was supported by Labour and a number of Independents, in addition to his party colleagues.

He was proposed by party colleague Seamus McGrath, who said Mr O'Sullivan's laidback manner belied his steely determination when it came to his work for the community. He also highlighted Mr O'Sullivan's strong record on environmental issues.

Fine Gael's John Paul O'Shea proposed his party colleague Noel McCarthy for the role.

Fine Gael have the largest presence in the new Council, with 20 of the 55 seats. But Fianna Fáil are close behind, on 18 and garnered enough support from others to claim the top job for their candidate.

The Greens, Labour and Sinn Féin have two representatives each on the new council, with one Social Democrat councillor and the remaining seats held by Independents.

Sinn Fein, the Green Party, the Social Democrat and two Independents abstained and Mr O'Sullivan beat Mr McCarthy 27 votes to 21.

Mr O'Sullivan topped the poll in the Skibbereen-West Cork local electoral area last month, being elected after the first count with more than 2700 first preferences.

After his election, Mr O'Sullivan said infrastructure and local development would remain his priority.

"I think my work on the ground, in the community and delivering on local projects are the reasons I got such a strong vote, and that work will continue," he told The Echo.