Literary Looks: How Vicki Notaro’s favourite authors shaped her beauty style
Literary Looks: How Vicki Notaro’s favourite authors shaped her beauty style

Vicki Notaro

Ailbhe Reddy: ‘The Irish music scene is deserving of lots of funding and love’
Ailbhe Reddy: ‘The Irish music scene is deserving of lots of funding and love’

Sarah Gill

Unfolding the Innovators: Meet two of Ireland’s most dynamic self-starters
Unfolding the Innovators: Meet two of Ireland’s most dynamic self-starters

Lizzie Gore-Grimes

The garden of this Dublin Bay home was inspired by its coastal surroundings
The garden of this Dublin Bay home was inspired by its coastal surroundings

Amanda Kavanagh

13 Halloween-themed events happening this spooky season
13 Halloween-themed events happening this spooky season

Sarah Gill

Trinity College Dublin to rename main library after a woman (for the first time in 432 years)
Trinity College Dublin to rename main library after a woman (for the first time in...

Sarah Finnan

The best Irish pumpkin patches to visit this Halloween
The best Irish pumpkin patches to visit this Halloween

Sarah Finnan

Page Turners: ‘Though the Bodies Fall’ author Noel O’Regan
Page Turners: ‘Though the Bodies Fall’ author Noel O’Regan

Sarah Gill

A nature retreat in the heart of Cork city, this cabin in the woods epitomises luxury
A nature retreat in the heart of Cork city, this cabin in the woods epitomises...

Sarah Gill

This seaside Dublin home makes the most of its unique shape
This seaside Dublin home makes the most of its unique shape

Sarah Finnan

Image / Editorial

The Green Party’s Hazel Chu is set to be Dublin’s next Lord Mayor


By Megan Burns
23rd Jun 2020
The Green Party’s Hazel Chu is set to be Dublin’s next Lord Mayor

The election for the position is set to be held next Monday, where the Green Party member is likely to be voted in. 


Hazel Chu, a Green Party councillor who topped her ward in the local elections in 2019, is set to be the next Lord Mayor of Dublin. A vote is to be taken next Monday, where Chu is expected to be elected, replacing Fianna Fáil’s Tom Brabazon.

Under the Dublin Agreement drawn up with Fianna Fáil, Labour and the Social Democrats, it’s the Green Party’s turn to take over the position of Lord Mayor.

When she was elected, Chu won the highest percentage vote a first time candidate has ever recorded in a local election, with 33.1 per cent of first preference votes. She was also the first Irish-born person of Chinese descent to be elected.

Kate Lenehan and Hazel Chu at the Image Businesswoman Of The Year Awards

On Twitter, Chu was keen to point out that her election was not a done deal, and that “it’s all my council colleagues votes I would like next Monday 29th and I will be asking for them in the coming days”.

She has been a member of the Green Party since 2016, and has many times stood up for both women and marginalised groups. Along with Catherine Martin and Grace O’Sullivan she founded the party’s group for women: ‘Mná Glasa’ and became its co-chair.

In 2018, she told IMAGE: “My immediate local aim is for a more vibrant, inclusive and active community. I want to see inclusivity across the board, no matter on gender or race. There are 4.7 million people in Ireland. Of the population, approximately 50 per cent are female.

“Twenty-two per cent of the Dail is women. Thirty per cent of the Seanad are women. Twenty-one per cent of the Council is women. That’s simply not good enough. We need more women for a better share of voice.”

She has been the subject of much racist abuse online, which she unfailingly responds to with calm and reason, always taking the high road.

The position of Lord Mayor of Dublin has a number of responsibilities, including acting as an ambassador for the city, both locally and internationally. The Lord Mayor takes the lead at City Council meetings, and signs its records of proceedings.

During their term, the Lord Mayor also lives and works in the official residence on Dawson Street, the Mansion House, so Chu, her husband, TD Patrick Costello and their daughter, could be moving house soon.


Read more: RTÉ will air a special episode of Normal People this week for Comic Relief

Read more: Cancer and Covid-19: “I finished radiotherapy in January. I haven’t seen a doctor since February”

Read more: Irish journalist Mary Fitzgerald reflects on her 13-year career reporting from active war zones