Limerick mayor in ‘catch-22 situation’ with role which needs clarity

By Bairbre Holmes and Grainne Ní Aodha, Press Association

The role of Limerick mayor is in a “catch-22 situation”, its current holder has said.

John Moran told RTÉ’s News At One there is an “expectation among the public” the mayor will be “able to deliver what you actually promised to deliver”, but that progress can be stymied by councillors who “absolutely” have the right to “take a different view”.

He was speaking on the radio programme after publishing a post on his own website criticising “a small minority of councillors within the two ‘ruling’ parties”, who he says “have consistently opposed almost every significant initiative” he has brought forward.

Moran, an independent politician, became Ireland’s first ever directly elected mayor in 2024.

His election followed a 2019 plebiscite in which people in Limerick voted to create the post.

The position, which has a five-year term of office, has executive powers which include developing and implementing strategies and initiatives to benefit Limerick city and county.

Moran said the role of mayor is “a radical change from the way things worked in the past”, which Limerick voted for “because they didn’t, I don’t think, believe things were working as well as they should be”.

There now needs to be “clarity” about the role and the legislation which created it, Moran said.

He said he had “numerous conversations over and over again” in private with councillors over the last 18 months, but “debate needs to be out in the public”.

He added the council has not been resourced by the government “to deliver what the people voted for in the mayoral election.”

Despite being “advised to walk away” from the job, Moran said he is “too stubborn and too passionate” to do so.

Asked by the programme’s host Rachael English if what is happening “might lead people to question if there should be a directly elected mayor in Limerick or indeed in any other city”, Moran replied: “Absolutely, and that has always been the risk, that’s why I’ve been trying to solve a lot of issues privately and quietly, and its not working.”

But added: “I think it’s working phenomenally well, but not at its potential.

He said he is “working too hard”, coming in at 7am and leaving at midnight – and “there is a need for greater support”.

He added: “If we can get the delivery machinery to work better and be allowed to do the things mayors should be allowed to do, I think a lot more people across the country will want this.”

He said, despite the current row, councillors are still working together, adding: “This is not the siege of Limerick, with the mayor holed up in his office.”

Asked whether there was a diktat from Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael to their Limerick councillors to not work with Moran, Enterprise Minister Peter Burke, Agriculture Minister Martin Heydon, and Minister of State Robert Troy said “no”.

Speaking at a doorstep in Dublin city, Burke said that for the Limerick mayoral role to work, everyone must “work together in the spirit of local democracy”.

Heydon said: “No matter who any of us are in politics, whether we’re on our local authority – which I served on in Kildare County Council for a couple of years before becoming a TD and becoming the Minister of State, becoming a senior minister – I was never able to do anything on my own.

“I always had to build alliances and work with people, and that’s a key part.

“So I don’t know the finer details of this.

“I understand the mayor’s frustration, I’m sure the councillors have their own perspective on that as well, which I’m sure we’ll hear in due course, but it’s really important that everyone works together for Limerick.”

Troy added: “I know having engaged with our own councillors in Limerick only a few short months ago, there is frustration on their side too, with the directly elected mayor.

“This is a new concept, it’s less than two years in formation, and when anything new, there will always be teething problems, and it will take time to overcome that.

“Sometimes it’s just down to basic personalities and people that don’t maybe get on very well with other people.”