THE Limerick political scene is “stale, unambitious, ineffective” and in need of a complete shake-up.
That’s according to Social Democrats candidate Sarah Jane Hennelly, who is setting out to shake-up local politics in May’s local elections.
Speaking about the party’s ambitions for Limerick City, Hennelly said that change is long overdue.
“Limerick politics needs a complete shake-up. It’s stale, unambitious and inefficient at the moment. Limerick has really struggled in comparison to Ireland’s other major cities and local politics is largely responsible. There is no vision. New voices are needed to challenge that,” she claimed.
The Social Democrats recently selected candidates to contest each city ward in the upcoming elections. Branch founder and former national executive Chairwoman Hennelly will run in Limerick City East with Kieran Walsh in Limerick City North and Elisa O’Donovan in Limerick City West, seeking to win the party’s first Council seats in the city.
“Over there years there has been a political cartel in Limerick, the Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael coalition. The purpose of local government is to fight for the needs of the city. Instead, they prop up their party colleagues in Leinster House and we lose out as a result.
“Power in local government has been dismantled over the years because successive FF/FG governments don’t want local government to be effective. Their agenda is to concentrate power in Dublin and with the help of their party colleagues in local authorities, they have succeeded.
“Electing new people whose interest is the city – not towing the party line – is how we can tackle this,” she declared.
