Cork city councillor to resign seat

CORK City councillor Fiona Ryan of the Solidarity party has announced plans to resign her council seat next month.

Ms Ryan’s resignation will take effect on June 9, meaning the upcoming council meeting on May 8 will be her last.

“The last seven years as a representative of my ward has been a great privilege and experience and I’m immensely grateful to my community for trusting me to be a fighting voice for working class communities in Cork City Council,” she said in a statement posted on social media on Wednesday evening.

Ms Ryan touched on a number of movements she was a part of, including assisting the Leeside Apartments residents in their successful fight against eviction and supporting Debenham’s workers and Cork city firefighters during their respective industrial actions.

She also highlighted a number of challenges she has faced over the past few years, including significant recovery periods following multiple surgeries, a difficult pregnancy, and the realities of parenting a young baby.

“Looking forward, I don’t see that changing in the short term, so I have taken the regrettable decision to resign my seat,” she added.

Ms Ryan said her replacement will be a “socialist representative for ordinary people who consistently stands with working class people and will continue to provide a voice for those seeking to challenge the system of enormous inequality that has created so much misery in society today”.

A process is under way to decide a candidate for co-option over the coming weeks.