24 September 2022
By Mary Bermingham
mary@TheCork.ie
Book: Clonakilty Town Council 1613-2014
Photo taken outside O’Donovan’s Hotel, Clonakilty shows Dr. Mathew Potter, of University of Limerick, author and present Curator of Limerick Museum, (fourth from left) with members of the Dúchas Clonakilty Heritage sub-committee who organised the publication of “The History of Clonakilty Town Council” at the end of 2021 after several years of work and research by Dr. Potter and Dúchas members, Tomás Tuipéar (second left) and Michael O’ Mahony, (fifth from left). Also included are: Cionnaith Ó Súilleabháin, (former Town Councillor and Mayoral Council Mayor); John M. Loughnan, (ditto, third left) and Tim Feen, Cathaoirleach Dúchas Clonakilty Heritage (on right).
Dr. Potter came to Clonakilty to thank the local group for their support and important contribution to the book, of which almost all 200 copies sold out in a matter of weeks after publication in November 2021.
The book is a comprehensive history of the Clonakilty Town Council in its various guises since 1613 up to the time like all other 80 similar local councils in the state. Town Councils were abolished in 2014 by the government, and replaced with the concept of Municipal Districts, which have chairpersons, instead of ‘Mayors’
The book records the personalities who were Mayors of Clonakilty during the four centuries, including photos and old paintings of some of those before cameras were invented.