"The Galtee Mountain Boy has reached the top of the mountain," said the Fine Gael leader in the council, Cllr John Sheehan, who predicted "some very lyrical and poetic moments" with Cllr Gallahue in the chair.

Other councillors were equally looking forward to witty and colourful exchanges from the man who is known to have composed ballads and poems on current events and characters.

And there was praise, too, for the "quiet man from the west", Cllr Foley, who was variously described as a gentleman and an honest man from a very decent family.

But beneath the warmth and bonhomie of the occasion, the cooler winds of economic change made themselves felt.

"It is a matter of great concern that money is getting scarce and people are finding it tough going," the new cathaoirleach said.

He was also concerned about housing and the downturn in the building industry.

"It will require Limerick County Council and the Construction Industry Federation to work very closely together to ensure that the people of our county and city are housed," he said.

On the city regeneration programme, he added: "It is incumbent on all of us to work in close co-operation so as to ensure our city and our county will become prosperous."

And he cited as one of his priorities the delivery of essential services to small towns and villages so that they could grow and develop.

Cllr Gallahue also backed a call from outgoing cathaoirleach, Cllr Kevin Sheahan, for an alternative alliance to be formed along the western seaboard to counteract the pull of Dublin in the competition for new jobs and investment.

In the litany of warm words and congratulations which followed, Fine Gael's Cllr Jim Houlihan called for an united front to put pressure on the Government to ensure that the Limerick elements of the National Development Plan went ahead.

"We must insist that we get our share of the benefits from the roll-out of the national spatial strategy," he said.

His party colleague, Cllr Richie Butler, who was Fine Gael's candidate for the position of cathaoirleach, had one complaint. Despite the fact that, after the last local elections, Fine Gael was as big a party in the council as Fianna Fail, Fine Gael had never held the chair.

"In the future, we might have to look at things differently," he said.

Welcoming the "smooth change over of the guard", county manager Ned Gleeson agreed with the suggestion there should be "closer links" between local authorities in this part of the country "against the greater forces in other parts.

"It is time to forget about boundaries in a small way. We have bigger issues to focus on."

The election was followed by a reception in County Hall, after which Cllr Gallahue invited everybody to Collins Bar and then to his own, family-owned bar in Ballylanders, where, no doubt, songs were sung.