Kilkenny councillor elected vice chair of Southern Regional Assembly

Local Councillor Andrew McGuinness was today (Friday) elected as Vice Chairman of the Southern Regional Assembly at their AGM in Waterford. 

Established in 2015, the Southern Regional Assembly has a remit for the Southern Region, one of three in Ireland as the regional tier of government. 

It incorporates three Strategic Planning Areas for EU funding purposes, and ten local authority areas: the South-East - Carlow, Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford, Kilkenny; the South-West - Cork City, Cork County, Kerry; and the Mid-West - Clare, Limerick, Tipperary.

The Assembly forges links between the EU, at national and local levels through Regional Spatial and Economic Planning and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) for the benefit of the Southern Region and beyond. 

Two local councillors representing Kilkenny on the Assembly are Fine Gael's Johnny Brennan and Fianna Fáil's Andrew McGuinness. 

Councillor McGuinness was proposed by outgoing Chairman of the Assembly, Cllr. Pip Breen from Wexford and seconded by Cllr. Johnny Brennan who had previously served as Chairman. Andrew was elected unanimously. 

Speaking after the election Cllr McGuinness said, “I’m delighted to have been elected today and to get the opportunity to represent Kilkenny on a regional level. I want to thank my proposer and seconder and my fellow Assembly members for their support.”

“The Southern Regional Assembly have already been involved in projects in Kilkenny since I became a member in 2019 including our fantastic skate park and Riverside Gardens,” he said. 

“It’s a tremendous honor but it’s also a great opportunity to represent Kilkenny and fight our corner at regional level when it comes to funding, projects and initiatives that will benefit Kilkenny”, concluded Cllr. McGuinness.