Christmas Greetings from Mayor Of Fingal
Happy Christmas and best wishes for a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year 2017
2016 proved to be a busy year with the General Election in February and with all of the incredible 1916-2016 centenary celebrations. For me personally, it has been extremely busy since I was elected Mayor of Fingal on Friday 17th June and now six months into my twelve month term, I have worn the chain at 175+ events / meetings already, with many more to come in the New Year. One of the highlights came after only four days when I ended up standing on the runway at Dublin Airport in front of Air Force Two with the Minister and Ambassadors to welcome U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and his family to Ireland. That was certainly an honour that I will never forget.
Since then highlights have included taking the Chieftain's salute in front of over 1,000 Pipe Band members at the All-Ireland Pipe Band Championship in Malahide; launching the 1916 memorial in Lusk along with numerous Fingal Old IRA Commemorative Society events; the launch of the fantastic beach wheelchair scheme in Portmarnock; and various festivals, book launches and events all around Fingal. I also got to open the new Castle Mills Link Road in Balbriggan and more recently, the new Crematorium at Dardistown Cemetery in Swords, which was a bit of a strange one to say the least.
I was delighted to attend the O'Dwyers GAA 5 year plan launch and the Youthreach Balbriggan awards ceremony in September, the Balbriggan & District Historical Society, Peter F. (Frank) Whearity book launch in November and the recent Balbriggan Christmas lights switch on and the Balbriggan Integration Forum Bring Your Christmas to Balbriggan events.
We are getting close to achieving the pedestrian and cycling route over the train bridge at the Malahide estuary, linking Malahide and Donabate. We also hope to open the former Balleally dump as a fantastic public park with incredible views all across north County Dublin. We have great potential here for tourism trails and cycle-ways all across north County Dublin including Rush, Lusk, Skerries and Balbriggan. At the recent Chambers Ireland's Excellence in Local Government Awards, I was incredibly proud to accept the "Local Authority of the Year" award on behalf of Fingal County Council - voted the best local authority out of the 31 local authorities around the country.
Thank you for your continued support and please do not hesitate in contacting me by reply if I can be of any help on any issue. November and December were extremely busy months, so please email me regarding any outstanding issues and I will catch up over the next few weeks.
Happy Christmas & best wishes for 2017.