Rathkeale’s Cllr Adam Teskey elected as local area cathaoirleach

ONE OF the youngest councillors in Limerick has been elected as chairman of the Adare Rathkeale district - for a second time.

Adam Teskey, a 28-year-old councillor from Rathkeale, was co-opted to the council in 2016 upon the election to the Dáil of Tom Neville. He is the youngest current council chairman.

His bid was proposed by Cllr Stephen Keary and seconded by Cllr Kevin Sheahan.

Cllr Teskey has been in Fine Gael since he was around 12 years old, and at the age of around 16, he was also the youngest chairman of a Young Fine Gael branch in the country.

Adam held the chairmanship for one previous term, after which Cllr Richard O’Donoghue took over the role.

His party colleague, the outgoing mayor Cllr Stephen Keary, has been elected into the vice-chair position.

Cllr Teskey, a qualified auctioneer, is currently farming at his home farm in Reens Pike. He is also currently completing the Green Certificate at Pallaskenry Agricultural College.

He was recently working at Deerpark Motors, Charleville, and has in the past worked in machinery sales with Mervyn Shorten, Croom.

He recently turned his attention full-time to the council and the farm. “We’re still farming the exact same plot of land since 1709,” said Cllr Teskey of his Palatine roots.

The councillor’s mother is also well-known in the area, having served as principal of Rathkeale No. 2 school for over 40 years.

And the Teskeys can claim political links to the former prime minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, whose wife Laureen Teskey is a descendent of the homestead in Killeheen.