IT IS said that for good ideas and true innovation, you need human interaction, conflict, argument, and debate. And, if that’s the case, our sagacious Limerick councillors must well and truly be putting down the foundations for a brighter future for the city and county with all their quarrelling.
There’s been no let up on our poor directly-elected Mayor since his landslide victory back in June, which of course he takes great pleasure in reminding his lowly captains of local government at every opportunity. This, of course, could be part of the problem.
Since the first official meeting between John Moran and our 40 elected council members in July, things got off to a very rocky start. Backs were up from the very beginning, and a taste of sour grapes seemed to linger in the air after the historic election of the very first DEM in Ireland.
Look, I get it, change can be hard. But as Mayor Moran so eloquently outlined at the recent meeting on his draft mayoral plan, progress is impossible without change and those too fearful of embracing change cannot change anything.
Change is coming, and nothing is surer. What we are seeing at recent local authority meetings is a colourful display of fanciful egos and an impetuous power struggle that is only ever going to go Moran’s way.
It has all been a little bit cringe so far, but if I’m honest, captivating with it. Fierce and gruesome, like observing a great white shark toy with its prey. Councillors have two options, they either work with our canny first citizen or they get left behind and swallowed whole.
This was made clear to Council members in a missive from the Mayor last week when he said he believes his draft proposal is strong enough to press on with, despite the brush off from some.
At his recent meeting with councillors, the mayor also pointed to the sense of hope and excitement around the city since his election. It is palpable and real and, like him or lump him, in a small space of time it seems obvious that Limerick got the person they believe is the right person for the job. There’s a real sense of that on the streets.
There’s also a sense that here’s a man that’s more than just a talker, he’s a doer with it. This is something that Limerick has been crying out for far too long. Here’s a man that thinks big and acts on it. He has already shaken things up at City Hall, and I mean, really, isn’t that what voters turned out for?
One council member said after their altercation with Moran that we need to concentrate on the basics, things like hedge-cutting. No wonder then we still have the mentality of a town that aspires to be a city but the dog ate its proposals.
Here, sadly, lies the problem. Limerick has always sold itself too short. We’ve been happy as the also-ran, the underachiever. Our ambition has always been on the floor. But, now, a mayor elected by the people, for the people, has entered the fray to drag us kicking and screaming out of the shadows into the light, and the focus after aeons of one-way Council traffic is on him and not councillors.
Some councillors are peeved, of course, because Moran is now getting credit for things that they have long taken kudos for. But why sweat the small stuff, when, together, they could aim for the stars rather than dense shrubbery?
