At a special sitting of the Waterford city and county Council this afternoon Fine Gael's Damien Geoghegan was elected Mayor of Waterford.
The Dungarvan man saw off a challenge from an alliance of Sinn Fein, Labour and the Greens.
He was nominated by party colleague Lola O'Sullivan and seconded by Fianna Fáil's James Tobin.
Councillor Geoghegan also received the backing of all of Fianna Fáil and Independents Joe Kelly, Joe Conway and Seamus O'Donnell.
He defeated a challenge from Conor McGuinness who had been put nominated by John Hearne and seconded by Declan Clune. He received support from Labour, the Green Party and several Independents.
However Damien Geoghegan was named Mayor of Waterford City and County for the coming year with 17 votes to 15.
Earlier this year both Cllr Mulligan and Cllr Geoghegan missed out on Dail seats when they ran in the General Election.
