Three women and six men were elected to the Administrative Council of the National Gay Federation in what was an exciting yet unsurprising contest on Saturday 30th January. The results in order of election were:

Tonie Walsh, Walter Kilroy, Barry Byrne, Ciaran Coleman, Judith Storm, Colette O'Conaill, Jim Treanor and Ann Coughlan.

The remaining three candidates Alistair Bate, Edmund Lynch and John Donnelly were eliminated at various points in the counting of votes which took three hours.

Half of the administrative Council is made up of first-timers many of whom will be bringing with them political skills borne outside the gay movement.

A full breakdown of the election results and a look at what each Council Member has to offer the Federation will be carried in the March-April issue of NGF News, the newsletter of the National Gay Federation.

Meanwhile at the first meeting of the new Administrative Council (and it's the 9th Council so far) on February 5 th Tonie Walsh was appointed President for the fourth year in succession. The Council President's role is one of spokesperson for the Federation. Walsh has said that it will be his last year on the Administrative Council.

Claudine Maguire who briefly sat on last year's Council was appointed General Secretary. She will have responsibility for overseeing the day-to-day administration of the Federation and is expected to liaise closely with the new Political Action Group. One of the people to watch this year.

A surprise for many has been the appointment of Colette O'Conaill as Treasurer of the Federation. O'Conaill's previous roles in the NGF were invariably confined to social areas and she is credited along with three other colleagues for the positive turn around in the fortunes of the Hirschfeld Centre in 1986.

The Administrative Council will be meeting again on Friday 19th and Sunday 21st February when it is expected to make further appointments.

An examination of the personalities and ideologies of the new Council appears in the next issue of Gay Community News, out on March 8th.