New Chain of Office presented to Clonakilty Mayor

When the government abolished Clonakilty's town council last year, (along with all other 80), the people of the town and wider community, led by a sub-committee of the local Dúchas Clonakilty Heritage group, organised a special election so that the people could directly elect five people to hold the position of Mayor of Clonakilty on a rotation basis over the following five years.
For several months after their election, the Clonakilty Mayoral Council, headed by the new Mayor Colette Twomey, lobbied County Council elected and non-elected representatives seeking to have the old Town Council Mayoral Chain and Robe "gifted" to it. The intention was that these items would be worn by the Mayor of the day at official events.
Despite great support from the County Councillors in West Cork, County Council officialdom resisted this move, and after several months the campaign was abandoned.
The Mayor was using a "chain" from the outset, thanks to Tomás Tuipéar who was Cathaoirleach of the Dúchas Clonakilty Heritage Mayoral Council Committee that worked to establish the Mayoral Council and organised and ran the historic election, etc.
On 8th December 2014, at the official switch-on of the Christmas Lights by Mayor Colette Twomey, Tomás on behalf of his committee presented the Mayor with a new Robe.
Earlier this week, the jig-saw was completed, when Tomás presented the Mayor with a new, upgraded Mayoral Chain that he has been working on for several months.

(Photo: CÓS)