A retiring Newmarket-on-Fergus councillor believes lessons his father instilled in him served him well throughout his lengthy political career.
Councillor Pat McMahon, aged 78, has announced that he won’t run in the upcoming local elections, after having held his seat on the council for 48 years.
The Fianna Fáil representative, who served as Mayor of Clare twice and Cathaoirleach of Shannon Municipal District once, set out on his journey in politics in the 1970s, after his father Andy, who himself was a councillor for thirty years, passed away suddenly.
Councillor McMahon says the attention his father showed to people in need inspired him to serve his constituents to the best of his ability.
Listen to the full interview here
In a statement to Clare FM, Fianna Fáil Deputy Cathal Crowe paid tribute to his party colleague “Pat is a great personal friend and running mate of mine and I can’t let the opportunity past without paying tribute to him for his stellar work over the years.
As many of you will know, Pat has had a lifelong passion for Shannon Airport and would frequently table motions at council meetings about it. When I contested the 2020 General Election, Pat was one of my close confidants and mentors along with former TDs for the county Tony Killeen and Brendan Daly.
Pat has always been a very proud Newmarket-on-Fergus man, following in the footsteps of his father who served before him. We would often co-host advice clinics in the community hall in Newmarket and it was evident on those days that he was very much loved by his community and they hugely value the decades of work he has put in for them.
His term of office will run up until next June and I have no doubt that he’ll continue his sterling work for his locality until then.”
