Fianna Fail took the chain of office back in Galway city last night when Cllr Martin Quinn - one of 21 siblings - was elected mayor in City Hall.
Cllr Quinn was returned under a Fianna Fail/Progressive Democrats pact, with nine of the 15 seats on the corporation held by members of the two parties.
He succeeds Cllr Declan McDonnell of the PDs, who was one of four members of the party voted to the local authority in last year's closely fought contest.
The new mayor was elected to the corporation in June, 1999. However, he has been actively involved in the Fianna Fail party for most of his adult life.
A clerk with Iarnrod Eireann in Galway, he is originally from College Road in the city. He was not able to take full advantage of the support of his 20 siblings during his election campaign, however, as most of them live outside the suburb of Tirellan, where he lives.
Cllr Quinn was involved in a public debate last year over concerns about young people's drinking at unofficial debutantes' balls.