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Daryl Barron, Dublin's new lord mayor, pictured with his wife Orla and his one-year-old son Niall this evening. Conor McCabe Photography.
daryl barron
Who is the new Fianna Fáil lord mayor of Dublin?
Daryl Barron has been a councillor for the Donaghmede area since 2019 and is his party’s group leader on Dublin City Council.
LAST UPDATE | 29 Jun
FIANNA FÁIL COUNCILLOR Daryl Barron has been chosen as the next lord mayor of Dublin.
Barron has been a councillor for the Donaghmede area on the north side of the city since 2019 and is his party’s group leader on Dublin City Council as well as chairperson of the council’s North Central Area committee.
While running in the 2024 local elections to retain his seat as councillor, Barron said his top priority would be building homes and delivering affordable housing locally.
He frequently highlights developments under Dublin City Council’s Affordable Purchase Scheme, including the Oscar Traynor Site in Coolock.
The councillor is vocal on community policing and is a peace Commissioner for Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Wicklow and Louth.
Last November, he spoke out after a newly installed playground in Coolock was destroyed in an arson attack.
Barron told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland at the time that the destruction was part of a wider trend of vandalism being carried out by “young delinquents, mindless thugs” seeking online “clickbait”.
He also said the council would have to “seriously look” at expanding CCTV at public facilities, and urged gardaí to visit local schools to warn young people directly about what he described as “mindless and absolutely disgusting” behaviour.
Barron recently welcomed the appointment of 22 gardaí to his area and said he previously wrote to the Garda Commissioner about the staffing levels and need for greater resources.
He also previously spoke out over a partial exclusion of councillors from a new policing committee.
Last July, Barron welcomed Dublin City Council’s decision to stop applying a 15% discount on property tax, while in May 2025, he welcomed the news that governments dropped plans for asylum seeker accommodation at the former Crown Paints site in Coolock.
Barron has become the 359th lord mayor of the city, taking over from Fine Gael’s Ray McAdam.
The lord mayor is the council’s chairperson, but it’s also a ceremonial position that comes with the major perk of getting to live in the historic Mansion House on Dawson Street.
As in other councils, the position of chair rotates among the parties on the council’s ruling group.
Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour and the Green Party formed a ruling coalition on Dublin City Council after the 2024 local elections, agreeing a policy programme including no longer applying a 15% discount to property tax each year, and trying to progress a hotel tourist tax in the city.
The opposition group on the council put forward Jesslyn Henry of the Social Democrats for lord mayor and Edel Moran of Sinn Féin as deputy mayor.
Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats, People Before Profit and left-wing independent councillors called on Labour and the Green Party to break with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and support their alternative candidates.
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