Lord Mayor of Cork

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The Lord Mayor of Cork is the symbolic head of the local government in the city of Cork in the Republic of Ireland. The first record of the office (as Mayor of Cork) is in a charter granted to the city by Edward II in 1318. The title was changed to Lord Mayor in a charter issued by Queen Victoria on 9 July 1900; unlike his counterpart, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, the Cork Lord Mayor was not entitled to title The Right Honourable. The title Lord Mayor defines the power of a city when compared to other towns and cities around the country. Only Dublin and Cork have the privilege of using the title Lord Mayor, as opposed to just simply Mayor.

In a ceremony known as Throwing the Dart, the Lord Mayor throws a dart into Cork Harbour at its boundaries, to symbolise the city's control over the port. This tradition was first recorded in 1759, although it is probably older.

The current and 70th Lord Mayor (June 2007 - June 2008) is Councillor Donal Counihan, who was elected by Cork City Council on 25 June 2007. Councillor Counihan, 66, is a member of the Fianna Fáil party and was first elected to Cork City Council in 1979.^[1]

[edit] Notable Lords Mayor of Cork

Tomás Mac Curtain – Sinn Féin Lord Mayor, shot dead by members of the Royal Irish Constabulary during the Irish War of Independence
Terence MacSwiney – MacCurtain's successor, died in hunger strike in Brixton Prison
Sean French – Cork TD, Longest serving Cork Lord Mayor since foundation of the state; 1924–29 and again 1932 until his death in 1937.
James Hickey – 1938–39 and 1939–40.
Anthony Barry – 1961, 1962
Peter Barry – 1970, Many ministerial positions at national level, the highest of which was Minister for Foreign Affairs
Pat Kerrigan – 1973
Hugh Coveney – Minister for Defence & Minister for the Marine at national level
Gerald Goldberg – became first Jewish Lord Mayor of Cork in 1977
Gerry O'Sullivan – 1986, Labour Party TD and Minister of State for the Marine.