Not much point sending a present if the recipient has to fork out for vat now is there?
I suppose you donât put any stamps or return address on your Christmas cards, do you?
Not much point sending a present if the recipient has to fork out for vat now is there?
I suppose you donât put any stamps or return address on your Christmas cards, do you?
For the first time ever in the history of the State people of Limerick will vote to directly elect their own mayor.
Sun Mar 31 2024 - 07:00
A car horn beeps as Green Party TD Brian Leddin walks through Limerick where voters will soon choose Irelandâs first directly elected mayor.
âGo on the Greens. I love you so much,â a driver yells, apparently tongue-in-cheek.
âMy number one supporter,â Leddin quips.
The man continues: âHeâs actually one of the better candidates by the way, not that thatâs a hotly contested position. I might give you a number 12, Brian.â
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Leddin laughs. âThat might actually count in the end. Itâll all come down to transfers,â he replies.
On Friday, June 7th â on the same day voters across the country will elect representatives to local councils and the European Parliament â the people of Limerick will have an additional choice; they will cast votes to select a mayor to lead a council that provides services to almost 210,000 people across the city and county.
[ The Irish Times view on the European elections: containing the far-right surge ]
It comes five years after a plebiscite that saw voters approve the creation of the office of a directly elected mayor. Similar proposals in Cork and Waterford were defeated.
The job comes with a salary of just more than âŹ154,000, five staff and a budget of âŹ8 million a year to be spent on mayoral projects and initiatives.
The most significant power the mayor will have is proposing the annual budget for Limerick City and County Council. This will still have to be approved by councillors.
The sums involved are considerable.
The councilâs draft budget for 2024 included âŹ249 million for day-to-day services and âŹ460 million for capital projects including housing and roads.
The new mayor will also propose the five-year Local Development Plan and will have access to Cabinet Ministers with a set number of meetings each year.
What they will not be is a North American-style mayor with major powers in areas such aspolicing or running public transport and schools.
Local Sinn FĂŠin TD Maurice Quinlivan claimed last year that the legislation underpinning the office was âvery disappointing for most people in Limerickâ. He said the mayor should have sufficient powers to ensure it âwould not just be a ribbon-cutting positionâ.
Sinn FĂŠin has not yet selected a candidate; nor has Fine Gael or Labour.
Leddin (44) defends the role and believes it can have clout in two of the big issues facing Limerick: health and housing.
[ European Parliament set for hard-right shift after June elections ]
He says the âcrisisâ in the emergency department at University Hospital Limerick could be raised directly with the Minister by the mayor who will have an âincredibly strong mandateâ.
Leddin says any Minister would be âvery foolishâ to ignore someone representing 210,000 people as there would be âblowbackâ for them and their party.
On housing, he says the mayor will be able to propose changes to the development plan to âzone for more houses in the right placesâ.
He says there needs to be a lot more people living in the city centre and more broadly Leddin believes Limerick can grow to be a âcounterweightâ to Dublin. As he sees it, the mayoral office offers the opportunity to plan for that.
The role of mayor is also a work in progress: it will be reviewed after three years to see how it is working and if more power can be devolved.
People Before Profitâs candidate RuairĂ Fahy is sceptical of the powers the mayor will have in housing. He believes the Government âset it [the office] up to failâ.
Fahy (32) highlights how the new Local Development Plan will not be brought in for another four years and says any proposals on zoning would have to be aligned with national policy.
People Before Profitâs candidate RuairĂ Fahy: âI want to rebuild like the spirit of the Limerick Soviet in 1919.â Photograph: Enda OâDowd
Limitations of the office notwithstanding, one of the main priorities for Fahy, who says he would take the average industrial wage if elected, would be to âbuild up trade union rightsâ.
He suggests companies that work with unions should be given preferential treatment when it comes to council contracts.
âI want to rebuild like the spirit of the Limerick Soviet in 1919,â he says.
Perhaps the most high-profile candidate in the race is former Department of Finance secretary general John Moran who is running as an Independent.
The Irish Times meets him in an office attached to a 19th-century Presbyterian church he bought during the pandemic to âsave the buildingâ.
One potential use he sees for it is as a home for his RHH institute, a think tank that would look at national issues âfrom outside the bubble in Dublinâ.
[ Podcast: Whatâs wrong with University Hospital Limerick? ]
He says working on the building was âa bit of a chemo projectâ. Moran got the âall-clearâ last year after being diagnosed with cancer in 2022.
Why does he want to be mayor?
âThere is no place Iâd like to make a difference than here in Limerick. Itâs home. Itâs been very good to me,â he says.
Moran (58) adds he does not want the new office to fail as it could offer an example for other places to follow to âbreak the centralisation of Governmentâ in Ireland.
Former general secretary of the Department of Finance John Moran is perhaps the most high-profile candidate in the race. Photograph: Enda OâDowd
He says the budgetary powers are âvery significantâ and they would be proposed in line with what the people wanted when they selected a mayor: âSo itâs politics and finance coming together at a local authority level in ways weâve never seen before.â
He says his career in public policy and financing means âI know I can make a difference in bringing all of that to bear on this roleâ.
In 2022 there was controversy over lobbying Moran carried out for US cab-hailing company Uber, as reported by The Irish Times. He argues it was a âsideshowâ connected to an international story.
Moran says he would not be doing consulting work if elected mayor. He has stepped away from boards of charities in receipt of council funding and is resigning from the boards of Shannon Airport and the Limerick Economic Forum.
Fianna FĂĄilâs candidate Dee Ryan, who is departing as Limerick Chamber chief executive to run for mayor, says health, housing and economic development are the big issues.
She concedes there is no direct function in some of those areas but says the mayor can be âa critical convenerâ and âadvocateâ for the delivery of all Government services.
Ryan (48) suggests there should be new powers in education, saying she would like to see all secondary students in the county learn to drive, sew and cook before they leave school.
Fianna FĂĄilâs candidate Dee Ryan is departing as Limerick Chamber chief executive to run for mayor. Photograph: Enda OâDowd
Ryan, formerly a member of the Labour Party and before that Fine Gael, made the headlines recently when years-old social media posts emerged in which she had criticised Fianna FĂĄil and party leader MicheĂĄl Martin.
She says her views have changed and Fianna FĂĄil is âabsolutely the right fit for meâ and it was Martinâs time as taoiseach during the pandemic that âcaused me to look at the party differentlyâ.
Another candidate from a Fine Gael gene pool is Helen OâDonnell who was married to the late TD, minister and MEP, Tom OâDonnell.
She is running as an Independent despite her seconding of current MEP SeĂĄn Kelly to stand for Fine Gael just weeks ago.
OâDonnell (63) describes Kelly as a friend and he knew she would be launching her non-party mayoral campaign the following day.
On why she is not running for Fine Gael, she says she believes the role of mayor should be âabove party politicsâ.
âIf you go into a council with 40 councillors . . . and youâre aligned to one party, I think you will not have the same strength,â she says.
Businesswoman Helen OâDonnell is running as an Independent as she believes the role of mayor should be âabove party politicsâ. Photograph: Enda OâDowd
OâDonnell ran a catering business in Limerick for decades, is active in the Tidy Towns and previously chaired the board of all-island body Safe Food.
She says she would bring such experience to the role of mayor and Limerick is âcrying out for leadership, vision and directionâ.
In recent days two more candidates have entered the race: Sarah Beasley of AontĂş, who has been praised by party leader Peadar TĂłibĂn for her outreach work with homeless people, and public health scientist Dr Laura Keyes who is running for Green Left party Rabharta.
Another candidate, Social Democrats councillor Elisa OâDonovan (41) grew up in London with Irish parents.
Her family moved back to Limerick when she was a teenager but she has faced some online abuse over her accent.
OâDonovan has previously clashed with mayoral race rival Leddin. He previously apologised after derogatory remarks he made about OâDonovan in a WhatsApp group emerged in 2021. She did not accept the apology at the time.
Social Democrats councillor Elisa OâDonovan said safety within communities was a significant issue in Limerick. Photograph: Enda OâDowd
Both candidates focused on what their priorities would be as mayor in their interviews with The Irish Times rather than on their old dispute.
OâDonovan says safety within communities was a significant issue in Limerick, as is a lack of public amenities such as swimming pools and these areas would be priorities for her as mayor.
She believes there should be more supports, including social workers and advocates, within the council for people seeking to access housing.
Rejecting criticisms of the limitations to the mayoral powers, she insisted that greater democracy was âa good thingâ.
Her first ever vote aged 18 was for Ken Livingstone, the first directly mayor in London, she says.
âI remember exactly the same arguments coming up then and the mayor made that position what they wanted to make it
car horn beeps as Green Party TD Brian Leddin walks through Limerick where voters will soon choose Irelandâs first directly elected mayor.
âGo on the Greens. I love you so much,â a driver yells, apparently tongue-in-cheek.
Those pesky cagers at it again @Little_Lord_Fauntleroy
Lot to be said just give the mayors gig to Paul o Connel and be done with it. Very few have done as much for the city
He would be better than a lot of candidates. Pity Kiely is busy this year. Heâd have had the city hopping off the ground
The PBP candidate looks exactly like Iâd expect one to look
I was thinking the same thing
A dizzying list of places and quarters.
Food markets, a burgeoning cafe culture, craft beer and some sublime restaurants make Limerick a food destination
30 food stalls in the Wickham way. Iâve never seen more than 4 open at a time.
Youâve never been on a Saturday so.
30 is an exaggeration but youâd have about half that
Was there the last two weeks. Seems like the bigger food trucks donât operate until the late afternoon. Just a few small stalls of jewellery and miscellaneous tat.
He neednât worry about it.
Saturday lunchtime is peak time, everything usually open then, youâd have a very wide selection of offerings.
The dosa stall would be my pick of the grub on offer
Paul is a FOTF. Iâd say he nearly had co-author status on some of the late, great @Joe_Playerâs posts.
I saw a drone footage video on twitter of the progress to adare. Some going, very impressive
Habitat and biodiversity destruction on a massive scale
Two subspecies of the grey mole mouse have been wiped out.
It will be very interesting to see what usage this line gets.