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LAST UPDATE | 30 Jun
FINE GAEL COUNCILLOR Ray McAdam has been elected as Dublin’s newest Lord Mayor.
At this evening’s Annual Council meeting, McAdam was elected to succeed his party colleague Emma Blain, who had served as Lord Mayor since 18 December.
He will now serve as the 358th Lord Mayor of Dublin until 29 June next year.
McAdam, a Cavan native who has previously acted as a Parliamentary Assistant to Paschal Donohoe, is a North Inner City councillor and was first elected in 2009.
He has been re-elected at subsequent Local Elections in 2014, 2019 and again in 2024.
Speaking following the election, McAdam thanked those who elected him as the 358th Lord Mayor of Dublin, his family and his colleagues in the chamber.
Congratulations to Councillor Ray McAdam who was Elected as the 358th Lord Mayor of Dublin 🎉 pic.twitter.com/G5ZkWaTsPX
— Lord Mayor of Dublin (@LordMayorDublin) June 30, 2025
McAdam also paid tribute to his predecessor Blain, who he said brought “empathy and purpose to the role”.
“Let this become the place where ambition meets action,” McAdam said, adding that celebrating Dublin “will be the guiding star” of his term as Lord Mayor.
As part of his plan for the year he pledged to install a new statue on O’Connell Street within the year honouring “the women of the revolution”.
Ahead of the election, Blain was invited to address her former Dublin City Council colleagues, where she thanked staff at the Mansion House on Dawson Street, her family and fellow councillors, and recalled some of the many “memorable moments” during her tenure.
“Thank you for your belief in what Dublin can be,” Blain said.
“It was the greatest honour of my life”.
Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe congratulated his constituency and party colleague.
“A glorious moment as my wonderful friend Ray McAdam arrives at the Mansion House having been elected as the 358th Lord Mayor Dublin,” he said in a post on X.
“Ray is one of the hardest working people I know. He is ambitious for the role and will do a magnificent job. I wish him all the luck in the world.”
In addition to the support of his Fine Gael party, McAdam also got the backing of Fianna Fáil, Labour and Green party councillors.
This is because Dublin City councillors from these parties entered into a political agreement last year, which is set to run until 2029.
The position of Lord Mayor is set to be rotated among these parties as part of the agreement.
There are 63 councillors within Dublin City Council and 31 councillors belong to this pact. Ray McAdam received 34 votes during the election this evening.
Sinn Féin, which has nine councillors elected to Dublin City Council, nominated Councillor Kourtney Kenny as their candidate for Lord Mayor.
Sinn Féin is part of a newly-formed ‘Progressive Alliance’ which includes the Social Democrats, People Before Profit and independent councillors Pat Dunne, Cieran Perry, and John Lyons.
This alliance contains 24 councillors who supported Kenny’s bid. Kenny received 22 votes this evening.
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Welcome to the 21st century!!! PASSPORT OFFICE
@Ronan Mc Namara: don’t be stupid the passport office has been providing an amazing online service for years. One of the best in the world in fact. 100% virtual applications process. They still have to be printed though and this is a more manual service which likely impacted.
@Ronan Mc Namara: learn to read honey…this article is about online applications only…
@Paul Quirke: What school did you go too?
Applications received from it are not being processed in real time but rather set aside in a queue until whenever the office reopens.
Blind leading the blind in that office.
Sure it’s a world class system…Jesus wept!!
@Ronan Mc Namara:
I renewed my passport online and I got it in 5 days while Brexit was happening. Excellent Service.
@Just Some Guy: Fair enough……but not for the last few months. Excellent Service…………….Jesus wept!
At present, no new applications for new or renewed passports are being taken either over the phone or by mail, as the coronavirus crisis has affected production of the documents themselves.
@Ronan Mc Namara: why?
The passport online system does not entail customer contact, processing can quite easily be organised with safe distancing, & actual printing, binding, & posting similarly, on a shift basis to mert demand.
Its a good revenue earner as well, so why would staff be redeployed, when lits of other public service personnel remain disengaged entirely, on full pay.
The senior heads have serious questions to answer, both in the civil srrvice & local authorities, as to why so many units closed up.
If they are not rated as essential services, then why re open them again?
@William Kelly: I agree William beggars belief….. they could not wait to closed the doors….very shoddy service.
While the Passport Office’s online renewal system is still live, applications received from it are not being processed in real time but rather set aside in a queue until whenever the office reopens.
@Ronan Mc Namara: not correct, the blank passport booklet are done in bulk order from the secure printing company contracted by the government and are stockpiled with emergency reserves. Even in the the UK although they recently changed to blue passports, red passports are still being issued as they are trying to get rid of them to make sure they have sufficiently stockpiled the new blue ones.
@Ronan Mc Namara: you also have to remember Ireland have Passport Cards, so if in the unlikely situation passport books where in fact short supply, it would be easy enough to issue the cards standalone to those applicants who only plan to travel to another EU country or just wanting a passport for the purpose of proving their ID, reserving the booklets for those who need to travel outside of the EU.
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