Butler follows poll-topping performance with the chair

Fine Gael"s Ray Butler, who topped the poll in the recent local elections, was elected unopposed as cathaoirleach of Trim Town Council following a pact between Fine Gael, Labour and independent councillor Trevor Golden. The new council met for the first time on Monday evening when four new councillors - Donall O"Brien and James O"Shea of Labour, Willie Fay, Fine Gael, and Ronan McKenna of Fianna Fail - joined sitting councillors Ray Butler (FG), Gerry Reilly (FG), Trevor Golden (Ind), Phil Cantwell (Ind) and Vincent McHugh (FF), around the table in the chamber. Outgoing cathaoirleach Trevor Golden said he was honoured to have served as chairman and added that it had been a memorable year. He thanked the town council staff and officials for their support and wished the retiring councillors well and welcomed the new councillors. Tributes were paid to Cllr Golden for his work during the year by Town Clerk Brian Murphy and Town Manager Kevin Stewart. Cllr Golden handed the chains over to Ray Butler who became cathaoirleach for the second time since he was first elected in 2004. Cllr Gerry Reilly (FG) and Cllr Vincent McHugh (FG) were both nominated for leas-cathaoirleach with Cllr Reilly being elected by a majority of 6:3. Cllr Butler congratulated the councillors, especially those who had been elected for the first time, and said he looked forward to putting party politics aside to work in the best interests of the town. He outlined his priorities for his year in office which include the upgrade of the town hall for the arts groups in the town, the completion of works at Navangate, flashing lights for Gaelscoil na Boinne, to extend the town boundary, to sell land in the new town centre for a supermarket and to attract new retail outlets to the town, to develop a skate park and playground, to achieve longer opening times for Trim Castle and avoid closure in the winter months, to help business people and protect jobs, to complete the CCTV scheme, and to have the public toilets opened again. He thanked Cllr Golden for his hard work throughout the year as cathaoirleach and also thanked the retiring councillors Danny O"Brien, Robbie Griffith and Jimmy Peppard for their work. Cllr Butler was congratulated by Mr Murphy and Mr Stewart and his fellow councillors who said they looked forward to working with him. Cllr Butler said he was disappointed to see that the town council only had one representative on the Trim Sports and Leisure Centre Board, even though they had asked for a second one. Cllr McHugh said the town council was entitled to every bit as much representation as the area councillors who have two representatives on the board and pointed out that after the boundary extension, the complex would be within Trim Town Council"s area. Cllr Butler said he would bring the matter forward at area level. Mr Stewart said that the proposed board consists of three councillors and two officials and that if the members wished, they could resolve to have more directors at the board"s AGM. Councillors were also told that the town council"s representation on the County Development Board would be on a rotation basis. Cllr Phil Cantwell said Trim is 'crying out for employment' and needs representation on the board all the time. He described the rotation system as a 'farce'. Cllr Golden said the problem was that there were no Trim area members on the board so when the town council did not have a representative, there was no-one to fight for Trim. He added that one area always seemed to get everything and said that reform was needed at county level. Cllr McKenna asked that the minutes of the meeting be circulated when Trim Town Council does not have a representative on the board.