Launch of the first dementia-inclusive shopping centre in Ireland, Mahon Point, 14 November 2023

During the farewell speeches given to Cllr Kieran McCarthy at the Annual General Meeting  of 21 June 2024, many councillors praised the artistic vibe of the outgoing Lord Mayor. He was, indeed, praised, in the general public, as the “singing Lord Mayor”. While being a singing aficionado for 20 years, having played in multiple plays and concerts, and benefitting from weekly coaching, he continued his passion while making the most of it during his mayoralty.

The best demonstration of the power of singing for Kieran is through the favourite moment of his mayoralty: when invited to launch the first dementia-inclusive shopping centre in Ireland, he sung from a single voice with people suffering from dementia. During that short moment, all the patience got reunited, in time and space, beyond illness, to be together.

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My partner Kieran McCarthy’s Mayoralty is now over. It has been roller-coaster. Of energy, of emotions. It has been an experience which I will miss but not regret: a unique in a life-time opportunity!

The last 6 months

We have gone through such great highlights since the last account of our activities:

• The Lady Mayoress’ Coffee Morning in Aid of Marymount for which we raised 5 000 euros
• Saint Patrick’s Day events and parade
• The Lord Mayor’s Ball which raised 21 000 euros in aid of The Mercy University Hospital Foundation, The Rainbow Club and Cork Mental Health Foundation
• The throwing of the Dart – traditional and family moment
• The Local Council Elections
• The Chain handover

It’s been a great adventure, a great honour and privilege to be the Lady Mayoress of Cork in 2023-2024.

I can also say that we, as a couple, have survived to it! It has made us stronger but also set the ground for our relationship.

I was also totally new to cork. Now I think I have a better knowledge of the city of Cork and probably higher than most people I know in terms of community and other types of activities.

I was actually very impressed by all the community activities of the City of Cork. I don’t know if that’s a specific Irish characteristic : if I compare to Belgium – where I have been for 17 years, and France were – I was born, and grew up, we, for sure don’t have such a strong tradition of community life. It’s very interesting to see these dynamics and energy that come from people, to work together on many topics just to make a better city, really.

I have been a Lady Mayoress for half a term now. After the Lord Mayor’s account of the first half of his mayoralty, it is my turn to account for my first entry into the role of Lady Mayoress.

In these first six months, I have had the opportunity to meet with wonderful people and to become familiar and support many projects borne by Corkonians: