'By no means goodbye': Two Cork councillors depart chamber for the Oireachtas

“This is by no means goodbye,” began one of two new senators as they made their final remarks to the city council chamber before departing for the Oireachtas.

Cork city South West Ward councillors Laura Harmon and Garret Kelleher were both elected to the Seanad at the start of the month, and, at Monday night’s meeting, as has become tradition in recent times, they were both allowed to make a final address.

Voice

First to speak was the Labour Party’s Laura Harmon, who was elected to the council last June.

“All politics is local and I will be working for Cork full-time as a senator,” she said. “I’m also the only woman representing Cork city in the Oireachtas so I will be making my voice heard. Labour is the fastest growing party in Cork city — we went from one councillor to three councillors, a TD and Senator in eight months.

“Housing, public transport, water quality, flood prevention, infrastructure, the events centre, and investment for Cork are all my priorities in the Seanad and I’ll be working on the ground here in Cork South Central with our growing Labour team,” Ms Harmon added.

Fine Gael’s Garret Kelleher was first elected to the council in the 2019 local election.

He spoke of his great pride when he had first sat in the council chamber and his then five-year-old daughter, who is now nearly 11, had said from the public gallery: “That’s my daddy.”

Respect

He said he had the height of respect for everyone in the council chamber, across all benches, and that he looked forward to continuing to represent the people of Cork in Leinster House.

“At local area committee level I would like to thank my colleagues, we all got on very well together, and I think that’s the key to it, very rarely have we had the need to take votes, generally we try to progress through things with consensus, and I have no doubt that will continue,” Mr Kelleher said.

He cited several ambitious projects which lie ahead for the city, including a light rail system, the north ring road, the northern distributor road, the M20 Cork to Limerick road, and the events centre, and he said he looked forward to advocating for the people in the Seanad.

Chief executive Valerie O’Sullivan wished both senators success on behalf of the executive, and Lord Mayor Dan Boyle wished them well “in your new chamber”.

Both new senators are set to be replaced by their respective parties, with two new councillors co-opted before the March meeting of the council.