Minister supports Limerick mayor over 'obstruction' from councillors

Fianna Fáil minister of state Niall Collins pointed out that 'all meetings' of the local council should be made available to the public

Niall Collins: 'Democracy should take place in public, in full view, in the full glare of the public to allow for proper transparency.' File picture: Damien Storan

Fianna Fáil minister of state Niall Collins has expressed support for the Limerick mayor, even if “some councillors” from his own party are “seeking to disrupt” his term.

Mr Collins told the Irish Examiner that John Moran published a “very ambitious and detailed” mayoral plan, one he is seeking to implement “over the lifetime of the council”.

“Unfortunately, every meeting seems to be a crisis or a battle for him to try and deliver on this programme for Limerick.

“The public are growing weary of it, and are of the view that he was elected on a platform and he received his mandate. The obstruction at almost every meeting is really damaging, and it’s counterproductive.”

Earlier this week, John Moran shared a statement on his personal website, detailing how he felt some councillors were trying to undermine his mayoral term by being “hostile”.

Mr Collins said the Government was supportive of the Limerick mayor.

However, tourism minister Patrick O’Donovan said on local radio that the council row was “causing significant reputational damage” to Limerick.

Mr Collins disagreed with this, as he pointed out “all meetings” of the local council should be made available to the public.

“Democracy should take place in public, in full view, in the full glare of the public to allow for proper transparency,” he said. “That’s something the mayor wants to do, and I don’t understand the reluctance of some members of the council to agree to that.”

Mr Collins suggested the proposal is not recent, as he had put forward the idea of local radio doing a live broadcast of the meetings over 20 years ago. He added that it was “shot down back then”.

“The world has moved on, and really it’s inward looking and backwards to think that meetings of the Limerick local authority can’t be made readily available for the public to tune into,” he said.

This comes as Government officials called for the issue to be resolved yesterday, after Limerick Labour TD Conor Sheehan said a mediator must be appointed to resolve the “mayoral stasis” in Limerick.

He called on the Government to urgently bring forward a legislative review of the directly elected mayor of Limerick and to appoint an independent mediator to resolve the ongoing standoff at City Hall.

Mr Sheehan said pretending the current situation in Limerick was working was “simply not credible”. He added the lack of clarity had “now led to paralysis”.

“At the heart of this dysfunction are clear weaknesses and ambiguities in the legislation governing the directly elected mayor,” he said.

On Wednesday, Mr Moran said he was “advised to walk away” following tensions inside the council, but had no plans to leave his role.

When asked about Mr O’Donovan’s comments about the row causing reputational damage to Limerick, Mr Moran said they were an “effort at deflection” in a week when the Government announced “millions more” in funding for Limerick.

“In my experience, the people with the least to lose about having debates in public are those with nothing to hide from public scrutiny of the choices that they have been making or their behaviour,” Mr Moran told the Irish Examiner.

The funding referred to is in regard to €130m allocated for Limerick roads, as well as further funding of €5.7m for legacy projects in Adare ahead of the Ryder Cup 2027.