Limerick Mayoral Election Still Facing Delays

It was an honour to don the Limerick Mayoral chains in 2015 for Limerick Council's inaugural Oíche Gaeilge, which I had established during my first year on the Council to mark Seachtain na Gaeilge.

I was acting as Deputy Mayor for this event, and once more during my council term, at the opening of the new facility for the Irish Wheelchair Association.

While I enjoyed the experiences, I would much rather see a Mayor and Deputy Mayor elected by the people of Limerick; but as I stated on national radio this week, I wouldn't be surprised if the people of Limerick are left waiting until 2024 before they can cast their vote.

The details of what role the new Mayor of Limerick will play in terms of the Council dynamic, and what powers they will have, are yet to be finalised. We don't know about election spending, if there will be a directly elected Deputy Mayor, and how the Mayor will work with the CEO, a position that would surely become redundant after the election, but will nonetheless cost the taxpayer €163,000 per annum.

These are all major issues which will not be solved overnight, and thus in my opinion we can rule out an election in the summer of 2022. We may well see it take place in late 2022, but I wouldn't be hopeful about that.

Then we come into 2023, and will the government really sanction a Mayoral election one year before a Council election? Possible, but I'd give it a 50-50 chance.

I think that at this late stage as we prepare to enter 2022 with little knowledge about the role of the Mayor and possibly a Deputy Mayor, a 2024 Mayoral election held on the same day as the Council and EU elections is the most likely outcome. Of course it shouldn't be, the government had well over a year to plan for this election before COVID came to Ireland, which was poor practice in itself to present a plebiscite to the people of Limerick, with no plan of how to implement it, and would appear a severe lack of will to implement it also.

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