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:

Dear guests,

Dear volunteers,

Dear performers,

Dear donors and sponsors,

Dear municipal staff,

Dear family,

Dear friends

Dearest  Lord Mayor,

5 years ago, my mother was diagnosed with a cancer. After a second wave of chemotherapy, it became clear she could not cope with the pain at home anymore. We had done not our best to ease her pain, to be the best possible support, but we had also reached out limits. She asked to be transferred to a palliative care centre.