Declan Burgess is elected as the new Chairperson of Tipperary/Cahir/Cashel Municipal District

Declan Burgess has been elected as the new Cathaoirleach for Tipperary/Cahir/Cashel Municipal District while Marie Murphy is the new Leas-Chathaoirleach.

The new chairperson was proposed by Mary Hanna Hourigan and seconded by John Crosse.

Speaking at the annual meeting of the Tipperary/Cahir/Cashel Municipal District, Councillor Hourigan said Cllr Burgess is highly thought of and is always available for the public:

"He is always on the phone and always on facebook advising about water shortages and keeping people abreast of what is happening. He is hugely involved in Cashel King Cormacs; his local GAA club where he helps out with the lotto and fundraising. 

"He is also involved with Cashel Heritage Trust. Declan was elected as one of the youngest councillors in the country in 2019 with a huge vote of 1,326 so a fabulous vote and it is testament to all the hard work he did before he entered politics and he continues to do that."

Councillor John Crosse said that Declan always had an interest in politics "You represent Cashel town very well and you respect all members here," he said. 

Declan Burgess' parents Mary and Kevin were present at the meeting as well as Senator Garret Aherne who congratulated the Cashel native who is the youngest ever to be elected to the role. 

The 28-year-old celebrated his birthday last Friday and is the first ever from Cashel in the position. Speaking at the meeting, Declan Burgess said he intends to open up the office to the wider community before pointing out that being fair and balanced is very important to him. 

"I am truly honoured and humbled to be elected," he said before adding:

"I think I am the first unanimously elected chair so that is a nice honour. My particular focus as chairperson will be on progressing the N24 Cahir to Limerick Junction road with a particular focus on Tipperary town. 

"I would like to see a real capital plan from Irish Water to start investing in our water infrastructure across this municipality. I want to see the continued focus on the availability of affordable and social housing. I would like to see Cahir Library progress along with the Rural Regeneration Development fund project," he said.

The Cashel native also spoke of his ambitions in relation to his home town of Cashel where he spoke of his ambition to help develop the new town park and to put structures in place to ensure more children in the town walk to school. 

Also to the forefront of his ambitions are developing an interpretive centre and the return to the town of the Bolton Library book collection. Other projects too will be worked on he said: 

"The building of the proposed sixty bed community nursing unit for Cashel is so important for our older people, not just in Cashel but in the wider south Tipperary area.

"Developing recreational facilities and encouraging walking and healthy living is of the utmost importance," he said before adding that he would work on developing an outdoor recreational facility at Tipperary racecourse and look at the redevelopment of Tipperary Hills outdoor amenity.

The Cahir to Cashel greenway project, which will be of particular significance to the village of New Inn, is also something the new Cathaoirleach hopes to see progress too over the next twelve months.