‘Great honour’ for Cllr Martin McDermott to be elected Mayor of Inishowen

Councillor Martin McDermott says it’s a “great honour” to be elected as Mayor of Inishowen once again.

The Glengad 49-year-old was elected Cathaoirleach of the Inishowen MD at a Council AGM in Carndonagh on Tuesday afternoon. It’s the first time he has held the position since 2019.

Cllr McDermott, who replaces outgoing Cathaoirleach Cllr Jack Murray, was nominated unopposed for the position by Cllr Fionan Bradley, seconded by Cllr Paul Canning, who joked that the Inishowen Mayoral chain might need a few links removed now!

Meanwhile, Cllr Bradley was also elected as Leas Cathaoirleach [Deputy Chair], making it a Fianna Fail one-two for the next twelve months.

New Cathaoirleach McDermott (pictured above with new Donegal Cathaoirleach Cllr Paul Canning) has pledged to work hard for everyone in the Inishowen MD.

“I intend to represent the people of Inishowen as best as possible, and try to bring as much here to Inishowen as I can. Whatever comes into the county, we want to get our fair share of it too,” he said.

“To be fair to the public representatives here in Inishowen, we fight our own corner for Inishowen when we go to Lifford, and I want to make sure that keeps happening.”

Cllr McDermott plans to prioritise a number of things during his upcoming year in office, including further enhancements to the redress scheme and tourism.

“We have to keep prioritising the defective concrete block scheme; to push to get the increase in rates as quickly as possible, and to push to get the side-by-side build, something that I've been working very closely with the Council on.”

“We also need to get other updates to the scheme to make it easier for people, both to access it and to get through it.”

He added: “Tourism in Inishowen is another big thing that I would like to see more emphasis on. I don't think Inishowen gets its fair share when it comes to tourism in the county.”

READ NEXT: Drivers injured in two-car collision near Culdaff

Finally, Cathaoirleach McDermott thanked everyone for their support and promised to do his best to repay them.

“I’d like to thank my own family, Sheila, Alishia and Sophie, and all my family, including my brother Davey, who does a lot of work for me in the elections.”

“And just to thank everybody for their support; for their support last year in the local elections. I’ll try to do my best to make everybody proud, and represent Inishowen as best as possible,” he said.

Cllr McDermott also paid tribute to his late parents for their love and support.