Metropolitan Mayor to contest Seanad
Metropolitan Mayor Joe Kelly has been nominated to contest the Seanad elections in January.
The Metropolitan Mayor Cllr Joe Kelly has been nominated to contest the upcoming Seanad elections in late January.
The Tramore and Waterford City West Councillor was nominated to stand for election to the Industrial and Commercial Panel of the Seanad by the Institute of Industrial Engineers and Safety Management Systems.
Mayor Kelly is the National Chairperson of the Institute and said that he is "honoured to get the nomination".
"I would like to thank the Institute of Industrial Engineers and Safety Management Systems for the nomination and for their confidence in me. I will give the election my best shot," the Metropolitan Mayor said.
"It's a very competitive and difficult election," he said but added that if he was successfully elected he would "do [his] best for Waterford City and county on issues that impact Waterford."
Mayor Kelly said he would work for progress on SETU, University Hospital Waterford and Waterford Airport.
"These are real issues - hot topics," he said.
Elected as Mayor in June, Kelly said he would work to "improve working conditions for councillors" and that he believes more power should be given to local councils, instead of "more and more power being given to central government".
"I feel that real politics is best done closest to the people," he said. "We are the elected representatives of local people."
Kelly believes that decision-making should be done by those elected to local councils, instead of the "unelected" people in government bodies.
Cllr Kelly is currently serving his second one-year term as Metropolitan Mayor - having previously held the position in 2018. He previously served as plenary Mayor of Waterford City & County from 2021 to 2022.
"This city and county holds a special place in my heart, and I am committed to representing it with dignity and pride. The importance of the democracy in which we live, and work, cannot be undervalued. It gives all the councillors here present our mandate to work for those that elected us," he said following his appointment to the position in June.
