The last fortnight has seen the selection of 11 new mayors and council chairs across Northern Ireland's local authorities.
DUP councillors will wear the mayoral chain of office in five councils during 2023/24 while Sinn Fein also have five chairs with Alliance currently on one.
The Local Government (Northern Ireland) Act states that councils’ annual general meetings must take place in June.
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The new appointments come just weeks after May's council elections which saw Sinn Fein become Northern Ireland's largest party in local government, with the number of first preference votes cast for nationalist candidates also exceeding those for unionist candidates.
This followed last year's Assembly elections, when Sinn Fein also became the largest party for the first time.
One of Belfast’s youngest Lord Mayors has been confirmed in the position for the next 12 months. Sinn Fein councillor Ryan Murphy, 28, said it was a “huge honour” to take over the reins in Northern Ireland’s capital.
His party colleague Niall O Donnghaile was the city’s youngest ever First Citizen having taken on the position at the age of 25 in 2011.
Outgoing Lord Mayor Tina Black of Sinn Fein placed the mayoral chain on Mr Murphy’s shoulders as she left the chair at City Hall last Monday evening.
Meanwhile, Aine Groogan (Green Party) was also confirmed as Deputy Lord Mayor at the same meeting of the council - Ms Groogan is the first from her party to take on a mayoral position in Northern Ireland.
Sinn Fein reinforced its position as the largest party in Belfast City Council at the recent local government elections, where it won 22 out of 60 seats.
Next largest is the DUP with 14 councillors in Belfast, followed by the Alliance Party with 11, SDLP with five, the Green Party with three, Ulster Unionist Party with two, while People Before Profit and the TUV each have one and there is one independent councillor.
Meanwhile, Gerardine Mulvenna (Alliance) became the new Mayor of Mid and East Antrim and Stewart McDonald (TUV) the Deputy Mayor at a meeting of the council last week.
Ms Mulvenna previously served as mayor of the former Larne Borough Council in 2012.
Coast Road representative Alderman Mulvenna takes over the chain of office from her Alliance party colleague Noel Williams, while Alderman McDonald - a TUV representative for the Bannside area on Council – replaces DUP Councillor Beth Adger as Deputy Mayor.
In Ards and North Down Borough, DUP Councillor Jennifer Gilmour and Alliance Councillor Hannah Irwin were elected to the roles of Mayor and Deputy Mayor respectively for the incoming term of office.
Councillor Gilmour, who represents the Bangor West District Electoral Area, replaced Alliance Councillor Karen Douglas as Mayor, while Councillor Irwin, who was originally co-opted last year, then was elected for Bangor East and Donaghadee last month, replaced UUP Councillor Craig Blaney as Deputy Mayor.
Jennifer Gilmour first became a councillor for the old North Down council in 2011, and was to become the youngest ever Deputy Mayor for the legacy council, before it amalgamated with Ards Council.
At last month's elections, despite many new faces being elected, the party makeup of the council did not see major change.
Out of 40 seats, the DUP remained the largest party, retaining 14 seats, as it had in the last mandate.
Alliance gained two seats and continues as the second largest party, now with 12 seats.
Elsewhere Derry is to be without a unionist Mayor throughout the current council term for the first time in decades.
The D'Hondt system, used at both Stormont and council level for allocating places, means all four Mayors will be from a nationalist party between now and the next election.
Sinn Fein were the big winners in the recent elections with 18 seats and have opted to nominate a Mayor in three of the four rotating year-long Mayoral terms, with the SDLP as the next-largest party set to take the remaining position.
The first year in the new council term sees Sinn Fein's Patricia Logue take on the Mayoral chain, while the SDLP's Jason Barr has been named the new Deputy Mayor.
The unionist dominated Lisburn and Castlereagh Council has elected its first ever Sinn Fein deputy mayor. Killultagh councillor, Gary McCleave topped the poll in the local election in May making him the first councillor elected to the local authority.
Cllr McCleave was first elected to the council in 2019 as one of the two Sinn Fein reps, before the republican party doubled to four seats in 2023. He takes over the position from Alliance councillor, Michelle Guy.
Downshire East, DUP councillor, Andrew Gowan takes over as Mayor from his party colleague Scott Carson, who failed to be re-elected to the local authority.
Sinn Féin has taken up both the chair and vice chair roles in Fermanagh and Omagh District Council following the party's roaring success at last month's local elections.
Erne East councillor and former MLA Thomas O'Reilly was nominated as the council chair for 2023/24, while party colleague Ann-Marie Donnelly from the West Tyrone DEA will serve as vice chair.
They replace outgoing Chair and Vice Chair, Councillor Barry McElduff and Councillor Allan Rainey
Sinn Féin will have a majority in the council chamber for the next four years after it won 21 of the 40 seats at last month's elections.
The party will hold Vice Chair for year one, two and four while the DUP will take on the role of vice-Chair in year three, meaning that the party will hold both the Chair and Vice Chair position in the first and final year of the 2023-2027 mandate.
In Mid Ulster, Sinn Fein Councillor Dominic Molloy was nominated to the position of Chair and UUP Councillor Meta Graham was nominated to the position of Vice Chair.
Cllr Molloy was first elected to the council in 2014 in the Dungannon DEA, while Cllr Graham has represented the Clogher Valley area since 2019.
Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council’s new Lord and Deputy Lord Mayor have also been confirmed
Councillor Margaret Tinsley was nominated to the position of Lord Mayor and Councillor Sorcha McGeown was nominated to the position of Deputy Lord Mayor.
This means the first Lord Mayor of the new Council term is from the DUP while the first Deputy Lord Mayor is from Sinn Fein.
Councillor Tinsley takes over the office from the outgoing Lord Mayor Councillor Paul Greenfield.
Councillor Tinsley, from Portadown, was first elected to the council in May 2014 and represents the Craigavon district electoral area. During her time on the council, Cllr Tinsley held the position of Deputy Lord Mayor for 2019-2020.
Councillor McGeown, from Lurgan, was elected to Council in 2019, and represents Lurgan DEA.
Elected members on Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council have nominated Councillor Mark Cooper of the DUP as Mayor and Sinn Fein Councillor Rosie Kinnear as Deputy Mayor for the incoming year.
As the First Citizen of the Borough, Councillor Cooper represents the Three Mile Water District Electoral Area, and he will serve as Mayor until June 2024.
He will be joined by Councillor Rosie Kinnear who represents the Glengormley DEA.
Councillor Valerie Harte (Sinn Féin) has been elected Newry, Mourne and Down District Council Chairperson while Councillor Gareth Sharvin (SDLP) was elected Deputy Chairperson.
Cllr Harte will replace SDLP’s Michael Savage in the council hot seat while Mr Sharvin replaces Sinn Fein Cllr Aoife Finnegan as Deputy Chairperson.
Ms Harte, who represents Newry City, was elected at the recent local election on the first count in May, as one of 20 Sinn Fein councillors to remain the largest party on the council.
The new first citizen of Newry Mourne and Down District Council has pledged to make the future of Daisy Hill Hospital the focus of her time in office.
DUP Councillor Steven Callaghan has been appointed as the new Mayor of Causeway Coast and Glens.
Councillor Callaghan, who represents the Limavady DEA, was co-opted onto Council in June 2022 to replace Alderman Alan Robinson, who was elected as an MLA.
The Deputy Mayor for the year ahead is SDLP Councillor Margaret-Anne McKillop.
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