The new County Mayor with his secretary, Edel Howard, who is from Newmarket. Picture: Martin Walsh.
North Cork Independent Cllr. John Paul O’Shea was elected Mayor of the County of Cork last Friday in County Hall.
Commenting on the prestigious honour, Cllr. O’Shea said: “I am delighted to have the opportunity of becoming Mayor. It is a wonderful achievement to be the first-ever independent coun-cillor to be elected Mayor, and I jointly hold the title as the youngest Mayor at 31 years of age, with former councillor Paula Desmond. It is a great achievement personally for me and I will do my utmost to represent the county to the best of my ability for the next 12 months.”
John Paul O’Shea became an Independent member of Cork County Council, representing the Mallow Electoral Area, in June 2009, following success in the local elections. He was subsequently re-elected to Cork County Council in May 2014 and became Chairman of the new Kanturk/Mallow Municipal District of Cork County Council. John Paul has a proven track record, work-ing on issues of importance in his constituency such as community, economic and social development of North Cork, retention of services in rural Ireland, such as the post office network and educational needs of the area.
The new mayor has reiterated his commitment to actively work on local and national issues of importance to Cork County over the next 12 months, in order to help develop and promote projects and initiatives throughout the county of Cork.
He is currently on a career break from the HSE South to focus full time on local politics. Outside of politics, he is also an active member of a number of community and voluntary groups throughout North Cork.