McDaniel to place equal focus on rural and urban areas in his new role as Mayor

Despite the fact that he lives some 40 kilometres from Athlone, the newly-elected Mayor of the Athlone Moate Municipal District, Cllr Liam McDaniel, has pledged to represent all the people of the sprawling district equally during his year-long term of office.

Since the Local Electoral Area Boundary Committee Report of 2018 recommended that Westmeath move from having three Municipal Areas to four, large parts of the county which would be more closely aligned with Mullingar, such as Kilbeggan, Rathowen and Tyrrellspass have found themselves in the Athlone Moate Municipal District.

Cllr McDaniel acknowledges that this is “not a natural fit” as he himself is a victim of this bizarre boundary change as he lives in Ballinagore, on the outskirts of Kilbeggan, and admits that the vast majority of people in his local community would find themselves drawn to Mullingar rather than Athlone due to geographical location and historical connections.

Nevertheless, he says he is both “honoured and delighted” to represent the District of Athlone and Moate as Mayor for the next year and says he will do his utmost to represent both the urban and rural areas equally.

Having been initially co-opted onto Westmeath County Council for the Kilbeggan Electoral Area in 2016 following the election of Cllr Paul Daly to the Senate, Liam McDaniel says he is the first person outside of the Athlone hinterland to serve as Mayor, but he adds that he hopes to continue to carry on the good work of previous Mayors and to represent everyone equally.

“In fairness to the staff working for Westmeath County Council, they don’t look at which are of the county any councillor comes from, they look after each of us and assist us in every way they can when we come to them with issues and problems that have been brought to our attention by constituents, or which have been raised at meetings, he says.

While he is aware of the many issues facing the Municipal District such as housing, dumping and anti-social behaviour, among others, Cllr McDaniel feels very strongly about rural decline and says it is very important that local councillors work to reverse rural decline instead of just focusing all their energies on urban areas.

Although he is from Kilbeggan, he has been living in Ballinagore since the mid-1980s (his wife, Ann, is a native of the area) and says it had two shops, a Post Office and a pub when he moved there. “The only business left now is the local pub, which has been closed during the pandemic, but I hear it is going to be re-opening,” he says. “And our local Church in Raheenmore has also been closed for the past year, and hasn’t re-opened yet.”

A firm believer in consensus politics, Liam McDaniel says the members of the Athlone Moate Municipal District “always work hard” to solve problems by agreement, rather than by being divisive and motivated along party political lines, and he is hoping to continue along that path over the next year.

“There is plenty of scope for improvement right across the district,” he says and he feels that there is huge tourist potential right across Westmeath. “We have to tap into this and continue to work towards improving the tourist offering.”

Alongside this, he is very excited about the continued growth and expansion of Athlone, and the granting of Technological University status for AIT, and is looking forward to driving the “limitless potential” of the town.

Having taken early retirement from Bord na Mona in 2019, after 42 years of service to the company, the Fianna Fail councillor is very much aware of the importance of finding replacement jobs for the Midlands under the Just Transition Programme and says he will work for everyone “from Rathowen to Rahugh to Athlone, and back again” in his new role as District Mayor. Ironically, his daughter, Nicola, now works for Bord na Mona, while his son, Thomas, who is a Westmeath County footballer, is stationed in Dublin as a member of An Garda Siochana.

After what he describes as “a difficult year” for everyone due to the coronavirus pandemic, Liam McDaniel says he is looking forward to a return to “relative normality” over the coming months, chief among these being the re-opening of the public offices of Westmeath County Council and a return to face to face district meetings.