LAST UPDATE | 21 Jun

THE INAUGURATION OF Limerick’s first directly-elected mayor has taken place in the city today.

John Moran was elected following a vote by the people of Limerick – the first of its kind in Ireland.

Moran, who ran as an Independent candidate, became a public figure working with the Department of Finance during the austerity years, but he also held roles with the Central Bank and Zurich Capital Markets.

Moran, shortly after being inaugurated, vowed to work to help make his adoptive Limerick City a safer place, citing a court case which heard a local woman was savagely beaten unconscious in the city by a serving member of the Defence Forces.

Army private Cathal Crotty punched Natasha O’Brien six times in her head two years ago after she had politely asked him to stop shouting homophobic slurs at two other men on O’Connell Street, the city’s main thoroughfare.

During his official inauguration, and as the first openly gay mayor of Limerick, Moran fought back tears.

“I think we all want a city and county that is safe. I think it is really important you’ve got to remember (this) moment, and just imagining what things were like for those people when they were walking home,” Moran said.

“It’s going to be a huge priority for me to really get on top of that issue.”

Earlier, while addressing attendees at his inauguration ceremony at St Mary’s Cathedral, the new Mayor praised the work of the gardaí, ambulance crews and firefighters who respond when people in the city are in need.

“I have witnessed first-hand the dedication of our frontline workers, I want to thank them from the bottom of my heart for all they do to make Limerick a better place.”

Inclusion 

Becoming emotional during his speech, he said he hoped people “can always feel welcome, whoever they may be, regardless of where they come from, who they choose to love, or whatever their religious beliefs”.

“I want to see a Limerick where they, like others can enjoy the amenities of our great county, without fear anymore, as they walk home late from work.”

The former Wall Street lawyer, investment banker and Secretary General at the Department of Finance, told reporters it was “of course, significant” that he was Limerick’s first openly gay mayor, “but what is more significant is nobody is talking about it”.

“What I have found really interesting, is that on our council we have three members of the LGBT community, we have immigrants who haven’t been born in Limerick, including myself, and I think that’s what is really significant for me, is that the people of Limerick no longer see those kind of divisions; that’s a really super statement of how Limerick has progressed as a place for everybody to live and to call home.”

At the conclusion of the official ceremony local schoolchildren, Shaheer Ghaffer, Sean Fitzgerald and Tia Costelloe, were handed the mayor’s microphone and asked him a very important question.

“Will you diligently perform the responsibilities entrusted to you and serve the people of Limerick to the best of your ability?,” they asked.

Shaking their hands, the new mayor replied: “I will”.

As well as focusing on law and order, Moran pledged he would also use part of a €40 million budget under his control, to help do what he could to tackle the city’s capacity crises in housing and hospital beds.

Later on, he led the 40 recently directly-elected members of the council in the first formal meeting of the new-look joint-local authority.

Housing

Speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland earlier, he said his background will help him in “solving the housing crisis” in Limerick and he hopes to achieve that by quickly building more modular homes on State land while other long term developments are being completed.

“Houses can’t be magiced out of thin air, but we have a lot of State land in Limerick [...] probably disproportionate to any other city in Ireland at this stage,” he said.

“We want to move faster with a short-term solution involving quick-build modular homes, which can be introduced in effectively hundreds and thousands on State land, while the other communities are being built.”

He added that the current targets for the number of houses to be delivered in Limerick need to be increased.

The mayor in the role’s new form will “personally define and oversee” the policies that shape the city and county, taking on many of the responsibilities that currently reside with the chief executive of the council.

The salary is €154,134, in the same band as a chief executive of any local authority.

Before now, elected councillors chose among themselves who would take the role of mayor and the term only lasted one year.

The vote by the people of Limerick has been described as a “radical” shakeup.

In 2019 plebiscites were held in Limerick, Cork and Waterford to decide whether these areas should reform how they choose their mayors.

Limerick voted in favour of reform by a small majority of 52.4%.

However, Cork and Waterford narrowly rejected the proposal by fewer than a thousand votes each. The Department of Local Government is still considering a report on a proposed new mayor’s office for the capital and there are no plans as yet for Dubliners to vote on whether they’d like a directly elected mayor.

Find out more about the mayor’s role here.