THIS morning (Friday) Limerick will become the first ever county in Ireland where the voters will directly elect their mayor, and the successful candidate in this historic election will be the first mayor nationally to hold executive powers.
15 directly-elected mayor (DEM) candidates, including four sitting Limerick councillors, are vying for an annual salary of almost €160,000 and the opportunity to manage a €40million budget with a five-person team at Limerick City and County Council headquarters.
At the same time, 90 candidates, spread across six electoral areas on Shannonside, will compete for 40 seats on the council.
Four sitting councillors – Daniel Butler (Fine Gael), Frankie Daly (Independent), Elisa O’Donovan (Social Democrats), and Conor Sheehan (Labour) – are in the race for both the council and the coveted DEM position.
In the event a candidate secures a council seat as well as winning the mayoral contest, their seat will be filled through a co-option – after the winning candidate nominates their replacement.
Sitting Limerick TDs Maurice Quinlivan (Sinn Féin) and Brian Leddin (Green Party) will also have to vacate their Dáil seat in the event they are chosen by Limerick citizens to be their mayor for the five-year term.
Fine Gael held the balance of power on the council following the 2019 local elections with the party securing 13 seats, followed by Fianna Fáil (11 seats), Independents (seven seats), Sinn Féin and Labour (three seats each), the Green Party (two seats), and Social Democrats (one seat).
After almost 40 year service, Fianna Fáil stalwart Cllr Kevin Sheahan, who was first elected in 1985 and was returned consecutively in 1991, 1999, 2004, 2009, 2014, and 2019, is retiring on June 6.
Other familiar faces exiting Limerick’s local political stage are outgoing Fine Gael mayor Cllr Gerald Mitchell, his party colleague Cllr John Egan, and outspoken Independent councillor and barrister Emmett O’Brien.
Former Fianna Fáil Cllr Sean Lynch, a retired detective garda and the father of All-Ireland winning Limerick hurler Cian Lynch, is hoping to be returned to the council running as an Independent candidate after failing to retain his seat in 2019 for Fianna Fáil.
Abdul Kalem Azad Talukder, who became the first Muslim councillor in Limerick in 2019, is also running to retain his seat.
Hot topics on the doorsteps of the Treaty City and Limerick’s rural constituencies include housing; the overcrowding and trolley crisis at University Hospital Limerick; anti-social behavior and drug use in the city centre; high commercial and residential rents; and the traditional chestnut – potholes.
