Frankie Keena becomes new Mayor of Athlone

Fianna Fail councillor Frankie Keena was this afternoon (Monday) selected as the first Mayor of Athlone under a revamped local authority structure.

A voting alliance between Fianna Fail and Fine Gael led to Cllr Keena being elected as Mayor at the first monthly meeting of the Athlone Municipal District.

The honour was bestowed on Cllr Keena after he defeated Independent councillor Michael O'Brien by four votes to three.

He received the support of Cllr Aengus O'Rourke (FF), Cllr John Dolan (FG) and Cllr Tom Farrell (FG), while O'Brien was supported by Cllr Kevin 'Boxer' Moran (Ind) and Cllr Paul Hogan (SF).

Cllr Keena said the role was a great honour for himself and his family. He outlined a 'wishlist' of projects he would like to see advanced over the coming year, and these included the one-way system in Athlone, which he feels should be 'brought back on the agenda' to make the town centre more pedestrian-friendly.

* For more from the first meeting of the Athlone Municipal District, see Wednesday's edition of the Westmeath Independent