INDEPENDENT city councillor Kathleen Leddin said she was “the happiest woman in Limerick” as she was declared the 817th, and last, Mayor of Limerick City on Monday evening.
The 74-year-old grandmother and former postmistress will be the last councillor to hold the title after the amalgamation of the city and county in June 2014.
“The first thing was total relief, then about 25 seconds after that it was total jubilation,” Mayor Leddin told Limerick Post following her election, “It’s so exciting and I am over the moon to be the last Mayor of the City of Limerick.”
Mayor Leddin pledged to bring “a lot of commitment and dedication” to the role over the next year.
She added: “There is a lot of work to be done regarding the amalgamation and I will be working very closely with City Hall officials and councillors. The City of Culture in 2014 is also a huge honour for the city; it’s going to be a lot of work but I’m looking forward to it.”
Kathleen Leddin was first elected to the City Council in 1999, she is a mother of four and also has four stepchildren; her late husband Tim was a former Fine Gael Mayor of Limerick.
Cllr Leddin was runner up in the mayoral elections twice in the last five years and was the longest-serving councillor to have not previously held the office of Mayor.
Cllr Orla McLoughlin, the daughter of outgoing Mayor Gerry McLoughlin, was elected Deputy Mayor.
Mayor Leddin’s appointment follows a dramatic build up to the election which saw Fine Gael mayoral nominee Cllr Denis McCarthy claim that he had been subjected to a smear campaign.
City Council Fine Gael party leader Cllr Diarmuid Scully said last week that false allegations had been made about Cllr McCarthy, who he said “has no case to answer”.
Cllr Pat Kennedy also accused his Fine Gael colleagues of “breaching an agreement” when they nominated Cllr McCarthy as their mayoral candidate instead of him.
Cllr Leddin won the election by nine votes to eight after Cllr Kennedy voted for her over his own party’s nominee in a move that could result in his expulsion from the group.
Labour councillors also broke a pact they had formed with Fine Gael as Cllr Joe Leddin seconded the nomination for his aunt rather than backing Cllr McCarthy.
