The mayors of all major cities should be elected directly by the people, according to former Cork South Central Fine Gael TD Ms Deirdre Clune, who looks set to become the next lord mayor of Cork after being nominated for the position by her party.
Under a pact, the mayoralty in Cork is to rotate between Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour, which have 25 of the 31 seats on the city council. The position is held by Fianna Fáil and is due to pass to Fine Gael next year.
At a meeting earlier this week the party agreed that Cllr Clune, who topped the poll in the South East Ward with 2,307 votes, will be its nominee for the position.
If elected next July, Cllr Clune will become the third generation of her family to hold the office, following her father, Mr Peter Barry, who was lord mayor of Cork in 1970-71 and her late grandfather, Mr Anthony Barry, who was lord mayor in 1960-61.
Cllr Clune will also become only the third female lord mayor of Cork following in the footsteps of the late Ms Jennie Dowdall of Fianna Fáil, who was lord mayor in 1959-60, and the late Ms Chrissie Ahern, also of Fianna Fáil, who was lord mayor in 1989-90.
Yesterday Cllr Clune, a mother of four, confirmed that she had been agreed by her party's eight councillors to be their nominee next July.
"It's still some time away and I don't want to sound presumptuous but I'll be the Fine Gael's nominee," she said.
Cllr Clune said she would like to see the lord mayor elected directly by the people but for a longer term, of probably five years, to effect major change.
She also called for a budget and a significant expansion of the current powers of the office.
A full-time public representative, Cllr Clune said that she believed direct mayoral elections should be open to anyone running for the city council, and the election of the lord mayor by all the citizens of Cork should be held on the same day as the local elections.
