Offaly’s only female councillor was replaced by a man at a meeting of the county council on Monday.
Cllr Tony McCormack was co-opted to replace Fianna Fáil’s Cllr Sinéad Dooley, who resigned earlier this year after 13 years of service. She was the only woman elected to the 19-seat authority in the 2014 local elections.
Cllr McCormack, a businessman and former Fianna Fáil town councillor, wished Mrs Dooley well in her new role. She left to take up the post of assistant chief executive with Irish Rural Link.
"It would be remiss of me not to pay tribute to Sinéad Dooley and the fantastic work she has done," Cllr McCormack told the monthly meeting. He thanked the elected members for their welcome and used the opportunity to criticise the IDA, who he accused of bypassing Tullamore in favour of Athlone.
While Offaly now has no elected female representatives at council level, two of its three TDs are women. Offaly-North Tipperary's TDs are Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Fine Gael), Barry Cowen (Fianna Fáil) and Carol Nolan (Sinn Féin).
The 19 men on the three local electoral areas (Birr, Edenderry and Tullamore) in Co Offaly: John Carroll, John Clendennen, Eamonn Dooley, John Leahy, Seán Maher, Peter Ormond, Noel Bourke, Noel Cribbin, Eddie Fitzpatrick, John Foley, Martin O'Reilly, Liam Quinn, Dervill Dolan, Declan Harvey, Brendan Killeavy, Thomas McKeigue, Frank Moran, Danny Owens and Tony McCormack.
