Sinn Féin councillor Gerry McMonagle has been elected to the prestigious position as Letterkenny-Milford’s first citizen.
Cllr McMonagle was elected Cathaoirleach at today’s AGM of the Letterkenny-Milford Municipal District, where acknowledgements were made to outgoing Cathaoirleach Kevin Bradley, who lost his seat in the June local elections.
Cllr McMonagle brings 20 years of experience in local politics to his role, having been first elected to the Town Council in 2004.
He was elected Mayor of Letterkenny in 2011 and Mayor of Letterkenny-Milford in 2015. In 2017-18 he served as Cathaoirleach of Donegal County Council.
Cllr Gerry McMonagle with his wife Zena and family. Back L-R: Ruby, Martin, Niamh, Isla and Laura
Commenting on the year ahead, Cllr McMonagle said his focus will be on one of the MD’s most pressing issues – housing and regeneration.
Cllr McMonagle said he looks forward to continuing the council’s work on rural and urban regeneration, social housing and work assisting those who find their homes affected by defective concrete blocks.
His first step as Mayor was to propose writing to the Minister for Housing demanding more urgency on the scheme to remediate social housing affected by defective concrete blocks.
Cllr McMonagle criticised the fact that Donegal County Council has been waiting 12 months for a new Social Housing Remediation Scheme to be implemented, while tenants live in terrible conditions and other houses lie uninhabitable. He said the correspondence should request a council delegation to meet with Minister Darragh O’Brien or invite the Minister to Donegal himself.
Cllr McMonagle praised the significant regeneration work undertaken by the previous council and expressed his excitement for building on those plans.
“Now we have done the planning, put in place the strategies, set about acquiring lands and it’s time now to start implementing that strategy right across the Letterkenny and Milford area,” he said.
“That will be one of the focuses I will have in the year ahead, helping and assisting the regeneration team we have in any way I can.
“The benefits that this will bring will be significant for the people of Letterkenny and Milford,” he said.
Cllr McMonagle said that a lot of effort needs to go into the provision and delivery of social housing and addressing the rising cost of private rents.
“It’s probably the single biggest problem we would have as a local authority, to compound all of that is defective concrete blocks, and the many homes and families that are affected. As more and more people are availing of the scheme we need to be looking at every alternative open to us to provide accommodation for the people that need it.”
He said: “While there are many good things, there is also issues and problems we need to keep focus on.
“We all deal with more and more people getting eviction notices through no fault of their own, the increased cost of renting privately is far beyond the incomes of many people who are seeking private rented houses.
“We need to speed up the building of social houses and we need to, if we can, arrest the rising cost of having to rent a private home. €1,300-€1,400 is not going to be met by the vast majority of people who need to rent privately because we haven’t got the ability to provide social housing for everyone at this moment in time.”
He added that more must be done to house workers in Letterkenny which he described as the “premier town of this county” for business and investment.
“We need to move quicker, we need to deliver more and we need to get help and support from the department to do that,” Cllr McMonagle said.
Fianna Fáil councillor Ciaran Brogan was appointed as the Leas Cathaoirleach this afternoon, taking over from Independent Cllr Pauric McGarvey.
Cathoirleach of Letterkenny-Milford MD Cllr Gerry McMonagle and Leas-Cathaoirleach Cllr Ciaran Brogan
Cathaoirleach Cllr Gerry McMonagle and former Leas Cathaoirleach Pauric McGarvey
The AGM welcomed new faces in the form of newly-elected councillors Declan Meehan (Independent) and Tomás Seán Devine from the 100% Redress Party.
Tributes were paid to outgoing councillors who were not elected this term – John O’Donnell of the Milford area who lost his seat after 10 years on the council, and Kevin Bradley who was first elected in the 2019 term.
Members and Executive Members of the 2024 Letterkenny-Milford MD
