First city councillor elected intends to run for Dáil in next general election

THE first councillor to be declared elected in the Cork City Council local elections has said he intends to run for Dáil Éireann in the next general election.

With a valid vote of 12,269 in the six-seat Cork City North West ward, Fianna Fáil’s councillor Tony Fitzgerald topped the poll with a vote of 1,930, and was declared elected on the first count just after 10.30pm in City Hall.

Asked whether he would consider a run for Dáil Éireann, Fianna Fáil councillor Tony Fitzgerald checked to see whether his wife, Georgina, was within earshot before saying it was his ambition to do so.

“I think the northside of the city needs a Fianna Fáil TD, and I think I’m the man, the person, to do it,” he said. “I think that’s a platform and a springboard for me to let the party know that I’m here, the people are behind me.”

His election was quickly followed by that of Fine Gael’s Damian Boylan, who was deemed elected on the first count with a vote of 1,872.

Both men were hoisted onto the shoulders of their supporters, with chants of “Boylan, Boylan” narrowly drowned out by a chorus of “Tony, Tony” led by Mr Fitzgerald’s four-year-old grandson Eoin White.

Speaking to reporters, Mr Fitzgerald became emotional, and said he was thinking about his 91-year-old mother, who had gone home earlier, and his father who had passed away two years ago during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The former lord mayor thanked the people of the north-west for their votes, and his family and political party for their support.

“This was a very, very difficult, challenging election, with a lot of candidates pushed into my own parish to try and bring me down, but it didn’t happen, and tonight I think the people have responded in the north-west ward to the work that I’ve done over the last five years and indeed over the last 20 years,” he said.

He said the next council would face many challenges, and the new city would be the northside as it expanded, and he pledged that he and his party colleagues would work hard to ensure infrastructure spending was put in place for that expansion.

He said the biggest issue on the doorsteps in his ward had been water quality, an important public health issue which he said needed to be addressed urgently by Uisce Éireann.

“I’ve met a lot of people who had medical issues on this, it is an issue, it’s dipping into their disposable income, and it’s something that has to be rectified,” he said.

Housing maintenance had been an issue raised on the doorsteps too, he said, and work was needed to be done with City Hall’s housing department.