‘It was a privilege to serve’

AFTER a hectic but enjoyable year as Cathaoirleach, attending over 300 events as well as working as a councillor, Cormac Devlin says he’s ready to hand over the chain of office.
“First and foremost, it was a privilege to serve as Cathaoirleach,” Cllr Devlin told The Gazette.
“It was an honour to be elected and I’m grateful to the council members for electing me.”
An “exceptionally busy” year for the father of three young children, Cllr Devlin said he tried to do as many events and respond to as many invitations as possible during the year.
“Equally, it was wonderful to work with so many different community groups and organisations right across the county and to help highlight various issues.”
From the outset, Cormac had set three priorities for the year; housing, enterprise and civic engagement.
“Those three themes really ran through my 12 months of Cathaoirleach-ship,” he said.
“Obviously housing is still, and will remain for some time, a very pressing issue and I was very pleased with the number of active sites that the council has currently under construction at the moment.”
Cormac mentioned a number of housing developments he is proud of, such as Rochestown House in Sallynoggin and Cromleach Close in Kilternan.
“The pressing issue is that we continue to build and provide social and affordable housing in this county.”
In terms of enterprise, Cormac notes the establishment of the Sandyford Business District plebiscite and his work with a number of other businesses and business groups including the Dun Laoghaire BIDs company.
“It was a very busy year to try and promote business relations between the council, the LEO and existing businesses. I hope I have helped to enhance business relationships and encourage new employment during my year.”
As far as civic engagement goes, one of Cormac’s biggest goals was to open up county hall in Dun Laoghaire to the public.
“I proposed that the county hall should be on the Spring Summer Into Heritage tour that the council runs.
“There’s a lot of people, young and old, that have walked past the building in Dun Laoghaire countless times and yet they’ve never been in to see the council chamber of the assembly room.”
Among the many highlights of the year for Cormac, stand out moments include the Bicentenery of Dun Laoghaire Harbour and his trade mission to the City of Chengdu in China.
The homecoming of Annalise Murphy from the Rio Olympics, the award of recognition for TK Whitaker and the 1916 event in Deansgrange were also stand out moments for Cormac.
“They were wonderful events,” he said.
Cormac’s advice for his successor, Cllr Tom Murphy is to not offer too much advice.
“Each councillor puts their own stamp on the year and I’m very impressed by Cllr Murphy’s priorities for the year – he’s done a fantastic job at the outset highlighting a number of issues he’ll be focusing on.”
Now that he has a little extra free time, Cormac plans to take some time out with his family, including his three children under the age of eight, this summer.
“My role as public representative continues but myself and my family are hoping to go get away for a few days.”