TOM BRABAZON HAS been elected as the new Lord Mayor of Dublin.

The Fianna Fáil councillor was elected by Dublin City representatives at a special meeting of the local authority this evening, beating off competition from independent councillor Anthony Flynn.

34 councillors voted in favour of the new Lord Mayor, with 26 votes for Flynn and three absences.

Brabazon received votes from his own party, as well as councillors from the Green Party, Labour and the Social Democrats, under the ‘Dublin Agreement’, which saw the four parties come together to form a council majority after local authority elections last year.

The vote usually takes place every summer, but a special meeting was called to elect a new mayor following the election of the outgoing Lord Mayor, Paul McAuliffe, who was elected as a Fianna Fáil TD for Dublin North-West during this month’s general election.

Brabazon, originally from the suburb of Raheny, first became a councillor in 2003 when he co-opted to Dublin City Council following the abolition of the dual mandate.

He was re-elected to the council in 2004, 2009, 2014 and more recently in 2019, and was elected as McAuliffe’s deputy Lord Mayor last year.

His party colleague Racheal Batten was also elected as Deputy Lord Mayor.

Brabzaon will only hold office until June this year when a new Lord Mayor will be elected at an annual meeting of Councillors.