Pictures: Domnick Walsh
THE newly elected Mayor of Kerry has invited the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien, to meet with the elected members and the executive of Kerry County Council to discuss what can be done to improve the housing crisis.
Cllr Jimmy Moloney, who succeeded Cllr Patrick O’Connor-Scarteen in the chair at the annual general meeting this Monday afternoon, said the issue of housing is a huge concern in all parts of the county.
“Massive investment has been promised and although it has been provided to a certain degree over the past number of years, delivery is still not keeping up with demand,” Mayor Moloney said.
“Last year the government announced the largest ever housing budget amidst a series of ambitious targets. Yet our waiting list is still far too long and many of our citizens are finding themselves in difficult circumstances,” he said.
On Covid-19, Mayor Moloney said as the vaccine rollout gathers momentum, there are finally blue skies appearing on the horizon and he received his own first dose on Sunday.
“Those blue skies continue to reappear, we are seeing more and more businesses beginning to reopen, the streets in every town and village are beginning to return to normality and Kerry is once again readying itself to welcome visitors back to the county,” he said.
“The last 15 months have presented challenges nobody could have foreseen. Many businesses have had to close their doors, sporting, cultural, and religious events have been curtailed and cancelled, and most tragically, many families have lost loved ones. It is those people, in particular, that I would like to offer my sympathies,” Mayor Moloney stated.
He said while everyday life has undergone a seismic change for all of citizens throughout the pandemic, there have been many signs of inspiration in the communities.
“While Kerry County Council played an actively role in bringing together state and voluntary bodies to assist those most in need during the crisis, most notably with the creation of a Community Call hotline, singular praise must be given to the multitudes of frontline workers who have stood out over the past 15 months,” he added.
In his acceptance speech in the stands at Austin Stack Park, Cllr Moloney described his election as mayor as the highest point of his political life to date and he recalled frequent conversations around the dinner table in the Moloney household as he grew up.
“As many of you know, my grandfather, Dan Jim Moloney, the anniversary of whose passing is also today, served as a TD, a senator and a member of this council so politics was nearly always a part of the main course and we were all familiar with the rigours of the life of an elected representative as a result,” he said
Cllr Moloney said no-one understood what that entailed more than his parents, Anne and Jimmy, who both passed away within a very short space of time in 2018 and 2019.
“It is today, here as Mayor of Kerry, that I honour their memory, more than any other day. I know they are here in spirit and as proud as they’ve ever been,” the newly elected mayor stated.
