A Ballybay woman was elected Lord Mayor of Dublin on Monday. Alison Gilliland from the town, a resident of Dublin since 1995 and a Labour Party councillor on the capital’s local authority, is only the 10th woman out of the 353 people to hold the position, which was instituted in 1665. Chairperson of Dublin City Council’s Strategic Policy Committee on Housing, Councillor Gilliland succeeds the Green Party’s Hazel Chu.
A Labour Party member since 2009, she was elected to the City Council in 2014. A former primary school teacher, she has been actively involved in the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation and ran for general secretary of the union in 2018, coming second to John Boyle. Helping Dublin transition out of the Covid-19 priority was identified by the new Lord Mayor as her priority in office, but she said she would also advocate strongly for women’s rights.
“I’m very conscious of the needs of our community as we transition out of Covid and the importance of the recovery of the city centre. I will be looking at the good things we have done during Covid, the pedestrianisation schemes, the outdoor amenities, and how we can keep and improve on these,” the new Lord Mayor stated. She said she was also “committed to public housing on public land, which means not just social housing, but affordable housing for those who are outside the threshold for social housing but cannot afford market rents.” Councillor Gilliland said it was “appalling” that she was only the 10th female Mayor in Dublin’s history.
“I do think we need to be more conscious of the female lens when we are planning for our city, particularly…
