Cathaoirleach outlines his priorities

THE Green Party’s Ossian Smyth has been elected cathaoirleach of Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council.

Cllr Smyth, who was elected to the county council in 2014 to represent the Dún Laoghaire Ward, was declared the new cathaoirleach at the council’s Annual General Meeting last week.

Councillor Smyth was educated at Trinity College and works as an Information Systems Project Manager in St Vincent’s Hospital. Cllr Smyth volunteers as a mentor at a local CoderDojo, teaching young people computer programming and other technical skills.

Speaking at the AGM, the newly-elected cathaoirleach said: “I have a number of priorities for my term as cathaoirleach. I want to see a greener county as we move away from the use of pesticides; I want to see more of the council fleet change over to electric vehicles; I want our children to be able to safely cycle to school and I want to ensure that the quality of the water at our beaches is tested and communicated to the public in a timely manner.

“I would like to see further progress being made in tackling the housing crisis in our county and will ensure that the housing construction targets set for our council will be met,” Cllr Smyth added.

“I want our social housing tenants to live in warm homes and will ensure that the energy upgrade programme continues. I much look forward to engaging with all stakeholders to continue to improve the services and facilities our council has to offer.”

Cllr Mary Fayne (FG) was elected Leas Chathaoirleach at the meeting.

Cllr Fayne, who was born and raised in Dún Laoghaire, was first elected in the Dún Laoghaire Local Electoral Area in 2014.