Bonniconlon man John O’Hara was formally ratified as a member of Mayo County Council on Monday morning when his co-option to the council to fill the seat left vacant by Dep Michelle Mulherin’s election to the Dáil was passed in the chamber. O’Hara, who has been one of the leading organisers of the Bonniconlon Agricultural Show for the past decade, was proposed by Cllr Joe Mellett and seconded by Cllr Eddie Staunton.
Cllr O’Hara’s co-option was unopposed in the chamber. After taking the plaudits from his Fine Gael party colleagues and wishes of good luck from all sides of the chamber, Cllr O’Hara spoke of his hopes for his term in the chamber.
“Today is a great day for me and my family,” he said. “It is something that has happened very quickly for me, I didn’t decided to get involved in the selection until late on but we put in a lot of work and I’m delighted to be here. I’m looking forward to representing the people of Bonniconlon, the Ballina area, and the people of Mayo in this role. I will be following in the footsteps of a number of people such as John C Kelly and Sandy Durcan who represented the people of Bonniconlon well in this chamber before. I’m looking forward to working with everybody here for the betterment of all the people of Mayo.” Dep Michelle Mulherin, who O’Hara will be replacing on the council, was in attendance at the meeting in the public gallery to see O’Hara co-opted to fill the seat she previously held in the chamber.
