Tipperary County Councillors to elect new Cathaoirleach today

Photo © Tipp FM

The 40 newly elected members of Tipperary County Council will gather for their annual meeting this morning.

The Fine Gael – Fianna Fáil pact is expected to hold sway when it comes to choosing a Cathaoirleach for the coming year.

On the agenda for the annual meeting is the election of the Cathaoirleach and Leas Cathaoirleach for the next 12 months.

With 12 Fine Gael Councillors and 9 from Fianna Fáil the two main parties hold the balance of power on the local authority.

As a result Fine Gael’s Michael Murphy looks set to take the position of chair for the first term with Fianna Fáil’s Seamus Hanafin as vice-chair.

Also on todays agenda will be the election of chairs to the six strategic policy committees – with 16 Independent Councillors they have the numbers to form 2 groupings which would see them take some of the SPC’s.

Other appointments to be decided include the Association of Irish Local Government and the Southern Regional Assembly, Tipperary Heritage Forum and the South East Regional Drug and Alcohol Task Force

The annual meeting gets underway at the Civic Offices in Clonmel at 11 this morning.