New councillor for Dublin as Catherine Stocker steps away from council role
Dublin City Council (DCC) has welcomed a new councillor in the wake of Social Democrat Catherine Stocker’s decision to step away from the role earlier this month.
Her party colleague Karl Stanley will be taking over in the Clontarf area, and was co-opted into the position at a special meeting of the council this week.
Speaking after his co-opting, Mr Stanley said Dublin had treated him well over the course of his life, and he now hoped to return the favour to his community.
“I grew up out in Blanchardstown in a [Dublin] Corporation house built directly by the state,” he said.
“We didn’t have any money growing up, yet I was able to go to excellent schools. I went to a great national school, a great secondary school.
“Fingal County Council paid for me to take a degree in Trinity College in one of the best universities in the world.”
He said he felt “very privileged” to be in the position he was in, and hoped to “give a bit back” to the people of north Dublin.
Mr Stanley was previously co-opted temporarily to fill in for Ms Stocker when she took maternity leave in February 2023, the first councillor in the country to do so.
Speaking in advance of the meeting this week, Mr Stanley said it was a very different thing emotionally to be permanently co-opted versus his previous temporary stint as a councillor.
“[In 2023] my number one goal was not to disgrace Catherine, just to make sure she could come back to the seat and everything would be as she left it. Now it’s a bit different,” he said.
“Catherine lives up in Donnycarney. I live down in Fairview. So the issues I hear about will be a little bit different, but obviously we have very similar values.”
Having worked in tech and most recently reinsurance, Mr Stanley is currently taking time off from other work in order to fully focus on the councillor role.
He said his priorities for the upcoming term would be on enhancing the city’s active travel network and tackling derelict buildings, highlighting the unused Player’s Lounge building in Fairview.
Mr Stanley’s co-opting comes in the wake of Ms Stocker stepping away early this month in order to focus on family responsibilities.
In a Facebook post, she said it was a decision she made “with a great deal of regret and no small measure of sadness”, but felt it was the right one for her family and constituents.