The new Lord Mayor of Dublin has pledged to forcefully confront urban dereliction and prioritise public safety while in the role.
Fianna Fáil Councillor Daryl Barron was last night elected as the 359th to serve in the Capital’s top position.
He got married in Kilkenny in 2023 to local woman Orla Fitzpatrick, daughter of Kilkenny Councillor Pat Fitzpatrick – she and their one-year-old son Niall were among the attendees of the annual meeting of Dublin City Council.
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There Lord Mayor Barron, who represented the Donaghmede Local Electoral Area since 2019, outlined how his Mayoralty will be driven by three decisive executive pillars:
- A Safer and Cleaner Capital: Deploying an aggressive ‘Cleaner Dublin Initiative’ with expanded direct labour staff and dedicated Community Wardens, alongside a formal partnership with An Garda Síochána to rapidly scale town-centre policing and establish an assigned Transport Police unit.
- Tackling Dereliction, Vacancy, and the Housing Crisis: Setting up a pioneering Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) in September 2026 to aggressively target, acquire, and remediate vacant urban properties, while doubling down on the direct-building of affordable housing on council sites.
- Empowering Youth and Honouring Communities: Launching the ‘Lord Mayor’s Community Leaders Awards’ across every electoral area to recognise grassroots sports and volunteer organisations, alongside a targeted rollout of multi-sport facilities and park upgrades.
In his Inaugural Address, Lord Mayor Cllr Daryl Barron stated; “A great capital city cannot survive on potential alone; it survives on delivery, which in turn, enables it to thrive. When foundational pillars like security, cleanliness, and housing, fracture, civic trust fractures with them. This year, we restore that trust. By going back to the basics, which underpin our great city, we will put our vibrant communities back on the map.”
He added “The Mansion House will not be a place of passive stewardship; it will be an engine room of executive action. From the street corners to this council chamber, we will clear the litter, build the homes our people deserve, and ensure public security is treated as a basic essential, not a luxury.”
The incoming Lord Mayor also referenced the imminent international focus on the city, as Dublin takes centre stage for the upcoming Presidency of the Council of the European Union, pledging to use the platform to drive economic resilience and strengthen local democracy. Furthermore, he called on central government to structurally empower the city in Budget 2027 by introducing a localised Visitors Levy Tax to fund public realm infrastructure without overburdening local rate-paying businesses.
Councillor Alison Field was elected as the Deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin at the meeting.
