The new first citizen has a foot in both counties, hailing from Trillick but with strong family connections to Coa.

The Sinn Fein man, who was selected as the new chairman for 2017/18 at Monday night’s council AGM in Omagh has pledged to break down barriers and represent all sections of the community during his year in office. 

Cllr McCann (35) is a son the late Gabriel, originally from Coa and Margaret (nee McKenna) from Trillick and the eldest of five children. His sister Emma lives in Gorey, Co. Wexford; Orla lives in Coa with her husband Peter Traynor; Rory lives in Enniskillen and Terry is married to Stacey McCaffrey and lives in Tempo. Cllr McCann is a father of three children, Erin, Niall and Odhran. 

Cllr McCann is a past pupil of St Scire’s PS in Trillick, St Michael’s College in Enniskillen and St John’s College in Dromore before working as an insurance advisor. Having joined Sinn Fein in 1997, he is now a full time councillor following his election in 2014 to represent West Tyrone. 

A talented piper and member of St Patrick’s Pipe Band in Coa, he was chosen to accompany the cortege at the late Martin McGuinness’ funeral in Derry in March. 

The Ulster Unionists have selected their Enniskillen-based Cllr Alex Baird to be the next vice-chairman. 

“I look forward to working closely with Alex over the next year. At council level we do work in relative harmony and I have built up a good relationship with all councillors over the past three years which I intend to build on,” Cllr McCann told the Herald. 

“I recognise that it will be a challenging year but also a very rewarding one. Geographically this is the largest council area, it will be demanding to cover it all but I look forward to getting out and about in all sections of the community and meeting as many people as possible. 

He has pinpointed the potential impact of Brexit, and the development of broadband and tourism as his main priorities.

“Wherever I go I’ll be working hard to represent the council and promote the area, particularly with the onset of Brexit. One of my first engagements is in Dublin today (Wednesday) at a presentation on how Brexit will affect the Fermanagh and Omagh areas,” he added.

“Our council area will border the EU when Brexit takes effect and the main priority will be to minimise as much as possible the impact on our local tourism and trade.”