AS LIMERICK heads to the polls this Friday (June 7), with more than 100 candidates to choose from across the local, European, and inaugural mayoral elections, Limerick Post reporter Andrew Clair took to the streets to ask locals what will be foremost in their minds as they submit their ballots.
In the first Irish election in five years, voters will be looking to elect representatives that align with their beliefs and values across a number of areas this week. But, according to the voters encountered by this reporter on a sunny afternoon in Limerick City, the issues of greatest concern are housing, healthcare, and migration.
Migration was a topic of concern for Limerick-born Nikki, who said: “Strangely enough, you can see me standing here with my suitcase. I am waiting for the bus to Dublin Airport”.
She told the Limerick Post that the cost of living had been a huge factor in her leaving Irish shores.
“It’s not a matter of even housing, it’s the cost of things. I work full time – who in their right mind can afford €3,500 for the month (on rent)? It’s just crazy.”
For Nikki, it is important that whoever is elected this Friday understands the pressure on the pockets of young people in Limerick.
“I think it definitely matters that they’re local, that they’ve grown up maybe not necessarily in the best parts of Limerick, so that they know what the struggles are, so that they walk the streets,” she explains.
And as Nikki made her way to the airport, others expressed concerns around inward migration, with one 64-year-old Limerick man highlighting the issue of people coming to the county from abroad and “living in tents on the street”.
“Whether they are entitled to be here or not, they shouldn’t have to do that,” he said.
For other residents, a revival of the city centre would be an issue they would take to the ballot box.
Maria, a shop owner in Limerick City, said she hoped that any newly elected mayor or councillor will do what they can to breathe life back into the city centre.
“Get more people into the city. There aren’t that many shops in the city and the footfall has gone down and everyone is going to the shopping centres,” she expressed.
Jacob, a college-age Limerick voter, said that he doesn’t think that there has been enough talk on ways to fix the underlying causes of homelessness and the housing shortage locally.
For Jacob, Limerick needs “more restrictions on landlords”, including “the amount of properties that they can have, or the amount of money that can be made from each property”.
