Election 2024: Cyril is proud to carry on a family tradition

Fine Gael councillor Cyril Burke is seeking to maintain a proud family political tradition in this Friday's local elections.

The Castlebar area councillor’s grandfather and father were both county councillors while his brother Paddy Burke is the longest-serving Senator in the Seanad.

“There is always an expectation there to do your best," he told the Western People. "You cannot let it slip. At the same time, I grew up around politics and understand it. Someone coming in fresh, it can take them a while to bed in and learn the trade, but I grew up in that environment. My father was a councillor, my grandfather became a councillor in 1914. While there might be a certain amount of pressure, when you are in there you want to do your best for your community and the people you represent. It’s a rewarding job when you can get things done for people."

The Ballyglass native is backed by a strong rural base but that brings its own expectations and pressures.

“Most of the issues in the town can be quite similar and the town itself is quite compact whereas the rural areas span back as far as Finney. There is a lot of ground to cover and a lot of communities to look after. The needs can be a bit more varied and things like LIS funding for roads is a huge issue in those areas."

“You really have to get your work done over the five-year period. Of course, there are things that might escape you but people will let you know about it. People are forgiving and will give you the second chance but you better get it done then! It’s so important to be loyal to your constituents."

He said the loss of town councils is bemoaned in some quarters but more rural areas in the Castlebar area have been boosted by General Municipal Allocation (GMA) funding.

“It’s sometimes forgotten that it’s rural communities who come in and spend the money in the town and that’s how the money is generated,” said Cllr Burke. “The money (GMA) has now been more evenly spread."

Through his work as an auctioneer, Cllr Burke is acutely aware of the housing issues in the county.

“Rising costs have meant you don’t have as many developers building houses. In the past, you had blocklayers and carpenters becoming developers and houses were being built in every village during the boom. In some ways, the media gave an awful ballyragging to developers and for that they got penalised badly by the banks and the Government. Now we are suffering the consequences of all of that because the fellas that were there went under or got out and only a handful survived. There are only three developers at best in Castlebar now,” he stated.

Cllr Burke said he is proud of what has been achieved during his time in the council chamber. He pointed to the rapid development of towns like Balla.

“A serious amount of work has been done in places like Balla, Belcarra Ballintubber, Ballyglass, Partry and Mayo Abbey,” he stated.

“It’s fantastic how we have rejuvenated our rural areas."