INDEPENDENT local election candidate for City West, Alec Morrissey says lack of visible policing, aggressive begging, and “downright dangerous” behaviour by cyclists and scooter riders are the big issues he’s hearing on the doorsteps.
He said that, even after years of community work and local involvement, he had been left stunned by the degree to which locals felt completely “unrepresented and administratively abandoned”.
He also claims that the Garda force feels under resourced.
“We have a real crisis of confidence amongst the people of Limerick in the old representation. People feel trapped in an endless cycle of promises made then broken, then ‘dusted off’ before being presented yet again,” Mr Morrissey said.
“And while officials and current representatives might feel that this anxiety about consequence-free anti-social activity is nothing to be worried about, I’d have to differ. I think it makes people’s lives miserable and particularly for older people, it makes them afraid and unwilling to go out and interact.”
Mr Morrissey referenced his years as a referee and explained his conviction that it was always best to lay out the rules and then explain to everyone “on the pitch” how they were going to be applied.
“It’s precisely because we don’t ‘pull up’ the low-level stuff that we are left running after situations where serious crimes have occurred, and unfortunately serious injuries have been suffered,” he warned.
“We have nearly silent scooters hurtling down footpaths without lights and being driven by individuals in ninja-black clothing skimming elderly people who can’t see or hear them coming. Someone one will be badly injured or worse and referencing the new laws governing these scooters is pointless.”
“We have to insist on an observable minimum standard that we all obey, and which is policed and enforced. I really believe that and I’m running on it as my first priority,” he said.
Speaking on his feeling about the outcome of this June 7 vote, he said that “there’s a wind of change about to blow through Limerick and the rest of Ireland. I can feel it and I know that people are getting ready to vote for the changes that they want to see happen.”
