Progressing rail line and undergrounding pylons among priorities of new council chairman Drew

Kells councillor elected cathaoirleach at annual meeting

Kells councillor Sean Drew this week outlined his priorities for the county as he took over as cathaoirleach of Meath County Council.

The Fianna Fail councillor said that as we hopefully come fully out of the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, the council can focus on progressing with projects and developments that are instrumental for the future welfare of Meath and its people, such as finalising the new County Development Plan, pursuing and prioritising in whatever way the delivery of the extension of the rail line to Navan, and continuing to support and provide stimulus to local business and industry in recovering from Covid, and promoting Meath as a come to location with opportunities for new and innovative entrepreneurs.

He added: “We need to maximise all opportunities that present to us as a local authority for increased delivery of affordable and social homes in Meath. In particular I would like to see us become a leader in offering affordable serviced sites throughout our county to individuals and young families wanting to provide their own homes.

“There are many other areas that we must and will focus on, broadband rollout, upgrading of the roads infrastructure, tourism projects, pylon undergrounding, community CCTV, and more.”

Cllr Drew was proposed by senior Fianna Fail figure, Cllr Tommy Reilly, and seconded by the youngest member of the council, Cllr Paul McCabe.

He defeated Fine Gael nominee, Cllr Susan Jamal, in a vote of 23 to 12, with support from his own party and the technical group of independents.

Cllr Drew added his voice to tributes to the outgoing cathaoirleach, Cllr David Gilroy of Athboy, “for the tremendous work and successful year of leadership in a most trying period of Covid restrictions and particularly in bringing forward the draft county development plan to the stage it is currently at.”

Cllr Drew continued: “It is a great honour and humbling experience for me to be elected as Meath County Council cathaoirleach. I became a member of the former Kells Town Council in 2002 and on its abolition in 2014 I threw my hat into the county council ring and thanks to the people of the Kells Municipal District I have represented them for the past seven years. I am a very proud Kells man today, as I am the first county council chairperson from the town since the late Eddie Hynes of Labour in 1982 and the late Paddy McKenna of Fianna Fail in 1975. In fact, maybe it’s appropriate for a Kells resident becoming chairman this year as we are celebrating the anniversary of the birth of another Kells resident - St Colmcille a short 1,500 years ago.

He thanked his family, Tish, Mark, Eileen and Janine for their support, encouragement and forbearance in his political life, as well as his father, Richard, his siblings, “my work colleagues, who will likely be seeing a lot less of me this next 12 months, and a special word to my FIanna Fail family in the cumanns of Kells and north Meath.”

“We are moving into the third year of our five year term and have lots of work to do on behalf of the people of Meath. I say to you my fellow county councillors and all the officials on the executive, let’s get on and do it together,” he concluded.

Outgoing mayor of Navan, Cllr Francis Deane, was elected leas cathaoirleach, defeating Cllr Jamal by 27 votes to 10.