Harris urges unity amid Limerick mayoral impasse

Simon Harris said there will always be “teething challenges” in new political positions, with John Moran holding the first directly elected mayoralty in the country

Tensions have spilled over in Limerick City and County Council in recent days, with mayor John Moran accusing some councillors of seeking to undermine his position.

The Government will launch a review of the office of Limerick’s directly elected mayor, the Tánaiste has said, amid tensions between John Moran and councillors that culminated in accusations of sabotage in recent days.

Simon Harris said there will always be “teething challenges” in new political positions, with Mr Moran holding the first directly elected mayoralty in the country.

Tensions have spilled over in Limerick City and County Council in recent days, with Mr Moran accusing some councillors of seeking to undermine his position. He said some councillors were plotting to ensure that his term was not successful.

Speaking in Limerick, Mr Harris said he believed everyone on the council needed to “pull together” in the interest of the county.

He said legislation providing for the directly elected mayor role allowed for a review of the office.

“I think that’s important, because if you do anything for the first time, there’ll always be areas that may need to be refined. People may have views, what’s working well, what can work better,” Mr Harris said.

“I’ve been talking to housing minister James Browne. The review is built into the legislation already and it is the Government’s intention to commence that review shortly.” 

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”.

The enmity has become so serious between the mayor and councillors that tourism minister Patrick O'Donovan said it is causing "significant reputational damage" to Limerick, while Labour TD Conor Sheehan called for a mediator to be appointed to resolve the “mayoral stasis”.

Mr Harris said there can be often disagreements in other countries between a directly elected mayor and local councillors.

“What I think is important though is that as the legislation envisaged, everyone takes stock here and has an honest conversation through the review.

“This, quite frankly, isn’t about any elected politician. It’s about the people of Limerick city, Limerick County.” 

The Tánaiste said everyone needed to work with a position of “mutual respect”.

Asked if Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil councillors were seeking to make Mr Moran’s life difficult, as he wrote in his blog, Mr Harris said everyone is entitled to their view but it is not his experience.

“Based on what I know, what I’ve heard, robust governance oversight of a council can involve cut and thrust in politics,” Mr Harris said.

“The councillors are also elected to do a job.” 

Mr Harris said he believed in the idea of directly elected mayors, saying he’d rather have a situation where someone elected by the public runs a council rather than unelected civil servants “having all that power and authority”.