Independent councillor Johnny ‘Bottles’ Griffin has confirmed that he will be standing for Mayor of Mallow when the council meets next Thursday to select a successor to Cllr. Noel O’Connor. Speaking to the Mallow Star, Cllr. Griffin confirmed that he wants the job in the final year of Mallow Town Council before it is disbanded. “I plan to stand, and while it’s not a foregone conclusion, I’m hopeful of winning,” he said.
The councillor won a seat on Mallow Town Council in 2009 when he ran as an independent, and an arrangement between Fine Gael, Fianna Fail, Sinn Féin and himself saw the mayor’s chain wrested from Labour, who had won four out of the nine seats yet still lost control of the council. As part of this agreement, Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and Sinn Féin have taken the top seat over the past four years, leaving Cllr. Griffin well placed to win the vote next Thursday. “I hope I can leave a legacy when the council is gone,” he said, adding that pay parking is an issue he believes should be tackled. “Something has to be done, as the present situation is not good for the town,” he added. Referring to a recent incident in which a tour bus was allegedly ticketed, the councillor said, “That bus driver will never come back to Mallow and it creates a bad image.”