Huge honour for Cllr Murphy to take the chair in the Enniscorthy district

FIANNA Fail’s Cllr Barbara-Anne Murphy said it is a huge honour for her to take over the Chairmanship of Enniscorthy Municipal District Council.

Speaking to this newspaper about the role, which she took over from Cllr Kathleen Codd-Nolan at yesterday’s AGM of the local authority, Cllr Murphy said was proud to be nominated to the position.

She hoped her parents, the late Rory and Nancy Murphy, would be looking down with pride following the AGM.

‘I am looking forward to the year ahead and working with the other elected members and staff,’ she said.

‘There are a lot of things that I hope will begin this year as well as working to overcome the affects of Covid-19,’ she added.

She said the local authority had a duty to ensure that people within the community can get back to living as normal a life as possible.

‘We need to help people get back to a relatively normal way of living life’ she said.

‘Even if we have to have social distancing we in the council have to make sure we do all we can to help people live the best lives they can,’ she added.

Cllr Murphy also expressed hope that the next few weeks will see the sod being turned for the first of the Technology Park buildings.

‘I also hope we will get word back from whoever is the new minister, with regard to the flood relief scheme and we can push that on,’ she said.

‘We will also have the Templeshannon Regeneration scheme and the Enniscorthy Tourism project,’ she added.

Cllr Murphy highlighted the fact that the town is at the centre of the Enniscorthy district and that the entire area needs to benefit going forward.

She said the tourism potential of the entire district is something that needs to be maximised.

‘We also have wonderful people in Enniscorthy town and district that people from outside of the area like to meet and hopefully that will all come back again,’ she said.

Cllr Murphy acknowledged the work of District Manager Ger Mackey, who she said is very forward thinking and she also complimented the local chamber for its work promoting the commercial sector.

‘I would also like to congratulate Cllr Kathleen Codd-Nolan for her time in the Chair,’ said Cllr Murphy.

‘She had a very successful year including how she dealt with the Covid pandemic and shutdown,’ she added.

Cllr Murphy receives the chains from the outgoing chairperson, Cllr Kathleen Codd-Nolan. Cllr Barbara Ann Murphy, the new chairperson of Enniscorthy Municipal District, with her sister Mairin Kehoe, her niece Aoibhe Kehoe and nephew Neal Kehoe.