Source: James Horan

COUNCILLOR PAUL GOGARTY has been elected as the new mayor of South Dublin County.

The independent councillor represents the Lucan electoral area, and was previously a Green Party TD.

He is best remembered for an infamous exchange in the Dáil, where he used “most unparliamentary language” when addressing Labour’s Emmet Stagg.


His election as mayor was proposed by independent councillor Liona O’Toole and Sinn Féin councillor Danny O’Brien.

In his acceptance speech, he said: “I look forward to engaging with different groups to hear what they are saying and ensure the message is taken on board by the Council. In this I include our older and younger citizens in particular, as well as parents and ethnic minorities.

I want to set up listening fora so that people can come with their ideas as to how to make South Dublin an even better County in which to work and live.

He said that his priorities for his year in office would be to create “a healthy county, a sustainable county, a listening county”.

Gogarty added: “I believe South Dublin County has an obligation to be a sustainable county. This means building well-insulated homes and communities, not just houses, with access to community services and public transport infrastructure.”

He replaces outgoing mayor councillor Guss O’Connell.