AND just like that it’s all over, bar the screaming and shouting. Now that the votes have been cast, counted, and cursed, and the dust is beginning to settle, the diabolical shape of Limerick City and County Council over the next five years can start to emerge.
There’s no point complaining now, you’ve cast your vote. And whatever you do, don’t forget that the political promises of yesterday are the taxes of today and the Active Travel schemes of tomorrow.
Limerick has made its bed and those newly elected reps who will fill its diabolical dreams with political visions over the next term have been decided.
There will be big change afoot and all eyes will be on Limerick as our first directly-elected mayor takes the mantle to lead the charge into the future with a big jump down off the hamster wheel to drag Limerick kicking and screaming out of the past and into its glorious new sooner or later.
Really what’s the worst that could happen?
Our beatific DEM dream will either turn water into champagne cider for all of us or we’ll be well and truly up the River Deel without a toilet brush.
As comedian Jimmy Carr so eloquently put it on stage at UCH recently, “I love Limerick. I think it will be great when it’s finished.” He’s right too, it will be.
Let’s just hope that we haven’t been sold a pup and it really is wine and roses for all the good citizens of the city and county.
Is it wrong of us to hope so desperately for a brighter future for our beloved Limerick lady? Sure, she’s seen better days, but she’s a tough old bird and can rise again to former glories with the right leadership at the helm. She’s been down before but this resilient auld doll always holds her head high, even when down on her luck.
Big talk and big promises were made over the course of the elections, but now is the time for a real leader to shine. Promises thrown to the four winds like confetti won’t cut it, our mayor, our mayor for all the people of Limerick, must exhibit the qualities they had the electorate believe they have in abundance to get us here.
Now must be a time for optimism, a time for fresh approaches, and a time for Limerick to shine.
This week marks a new era for local government and decision-making locally, with Limerick leading the charge nationally. Hopefully, we will be able to look back at this moment as a key time of forward-thinking and foresight that lead to a brighter tomorrow for all of us.
The pothole politics of the past must be resigned now to the janitor’s cupboard in Merchant’s Quay. Enough of the auld guff, empty promises and clattering of tin pots.
We voted for change, and change we demand.
