City council welcomes new member

A new city councillor has been co-opted onto Cork City Council to replace recently retired councillor Ted Tynan.

Jerrica Struthers, a member of the Workers’ Party, became Cork City Council’s newest member following the latest full meeting of the council on Monday 8 June.

Tynan announced his retirement at the full meeting of the council on 11 May.

Struthers, a community activist from Mayfield, has worked with Tynan for a number of years, but she said that becoming a councillor was “never the plan”.

“I’ve always been much more comfortable at a protest, at a community meeting in Mayfield, or helping a neighbour navigate a mountain of paperwork than I am standing behind a desk,” she said.

She said the community in Mayfield deserved “someone who won’t just talk about the struggle, but who lives it alongside you”.

“We’ve been overlooked and underfunded for too long. But being an underdog just means you know how to fight harder. It means you know the value of a hand up, not a handout,” she said.

Struthers received a standing ovation from councillors on her co-option.

Lord Mayor Cllr Fergal Dennehy said he was looking forward to begin working with her.

Struthers said she was accepting the co-option because she refuses “to let the fire that Ted lit in the council go out”.

“We all know Ted wasn’t just a councillor; he was the heartbeat of the North East Ward. I’ve watched him for years - his wins weren’t just lines in a newspaper; they were real victories for real people.

“His persistence inspired me. He taught me that you don’t need the loudest voice in the room to be the most effective; you just need the thickest skin and the biggest heart,” she said.

This article was produced with the support of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme funded by Coimisiún na Meán.