The new Lord Mayor of Dublin was elected to office on 21st June 2004. Cllr. Michael Conaghan left Donegal in 1969 and has lived in Dublin for over 40 years. He resides in Ballyfermot although his present address is the Mansion House Dawson Street, Dublin 2.

He is married to Marian and has two grown-up children. One is married and living in Australia and the other is a teacher in a school in Castlenock who lives at home. Michael Conaghan is a teacher by profession and is the assistant principal of Inchicore College of Further Education.

The Lord Mayor joined the Labour party in 1990 and was elected to Dublin City Council in 1991 to represent the Ballyfermot ward. He topped the poll on three separate occasions. He has been Chairman of the City of Dublin, VEC for many years. A passionate supporter of issues relating to the Arts, Heritage and Culture, Cllr. Conaghan has published various articles of research into local heritage matters and local history, particularly within Inchicore/ Kilmaninham and Ballyfermot areas.

He admitted he was not too familiar with our neck of the woods, but had visited the VEC College in Ringsend on a number of occasions and was impressed with the rejuvenation of the area. He intends over the coming months to familiarise himself with all aspects of the City.

The history of the City and the Port of Dublin is familiar to him and this is just as well because in addition to his title of Lord Mayor of Dublin he was also conferred with the role of Admiral of the Port of Dublin at a ceremony in St Andrew’s Resource Centre at the opening of the South Docks Festival on July 19th.

During his term in office Cllr. Conaghan intends paying particular attention to community policing issues, and hopes to establish a specific Council Committee to deal with issues relating to social justice and equality.

The Lord Mayor would like to see a new charter for the City. The ethos of the new council will be policy driven, working for change with the City Manager and delivering on people’s rights in policing through high level contact with the Gardai.

Cllr. Conaghan said he wanted to see a democratic alliance for change immediately for the people of Dublin which he hoped will be published in the coming weeks. The charter will cover citizenship rights in relation to policing, housing which is a basic human right, planning, the environment services and access to the planning system. He said, at present it is in the hands of a few.

When asked what he meant when he spoke of social justice, he said the fancy word is now ‘Inclusion’. He is very strong-minded on community building. There is a huge emphasis on building the city, but, in his opinion very little on rebuilding communities. A lot of communities have gone through a very difficult time through unemployment, drugs and inadequate housing and services.

The old enduring values of community building and of solidarity, people helping people, these values are either lost or under attack. It is very important he said to maintain and build on these values and access and inclusiveness is vital to the regeneration of Dublin. The Lord Mayor stated unless we pay as much attention to these issues we will have a very lopsided city, a city that has lost its heart and its soul.

Lord Mayor of Dublin Cllr. Michael Conaghan is pictured with, from left: Pauline Boland, Joe Burke, Chairman of Dublin Port, Betty Ashe and Enda Connellan, CEO Dublin Port.