LAST UPDATE | 25 Apr

LIMERICK IS SET to select its first ever directly elected mayor in less than two months.

Contenders have started to announce themselves as candidates in recent days and weeks before the city goes to the polls on 7 June.

Limerick voted five years ago to establish the office of mayor with a majority of 52.4%. The new mayor will be granted powers like proposing development plans for Limerick city and county.

Over 10 hopefuls have put themselves forward so far.

Conor Sheehan has been selected as Labour’s candidate. Sheehan has worked as a councillor for Limerick City North since his election in 2019. 

“My pledge is to be the Mayor for Housing. For many people my age in Limerick, the legitimate aspiration to work hard, save and eventually buy your own home is slipping away,” Sheehan said. 

“I am standing in this election because I want to put in place a Mayoral Programme to deliver the homes we need.”

Daniel Butler, also a local councillor, was selected on 13 April to be Fine Gael’s candidate for the election. 

“Throughout my life, I have sought to make a positive, practical impact in peoples’ lives. That is my motivation in life. That desire to make positive change is why I entered local politics,” Butler said. 

“Local progressive politics can make tangible, practical improvements for people’s lives, in our community and I want to continue that as Mayor of Limerick.”

Sinn Féin TD Maurice Quinlivan has also announced his intention to run for the position. 

The Limerick City TD is chairperson of the Oireachtas Enterprise, Trade and Employment Committee. 

“People need to see change at University Hospital Limerick, so they can have confidence that they and their loved ones will get the quality healthcare they need, when they need it. People need affordable housing and an end to the housing crisis,” Quinlivan said in a statement this morning. 

“People need to see regeneration of both our city and the county’s towns and villages through investment in our communities, a plan to deliver quality job opportunities and ensuring businesses and the tourism sector can thrive.”

Elisa O’Donovan, a Social Democrats councillor for Limerick City West and a Speech and Language Therapist, announced she would be throwing her hat in the ring last month. 

“I want to build a Limerick that is fair, creative, prosperous and healthy. I want to build safer spaces for everyone in our city and county. I want to prioritise better public services and amenities so we can build strong and healthy communities,” she said in a statement yesterday morning. 

The Limerick Chamber of Commerce has announced that it had accepted the resignation of its CEO Dee Ryan as she puts herself forward for the election.

Ryan was the chief executive of the chamber since 2018. She is running as Fianna Fáil’s candidate.

Green Party TD Brian Leddin was the first of the candidates to step forward.

The TD for Limerick City is the Green Party’s spokesperson for transport, climate action and environment and is the Chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action.

Dr Laura Keyes, who has a PhD in public health, is running for the Rabharta party.

She is a currently a Senior Research Manager at the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) and has said her goal is a “city that champions sustainability, embraces diversity, and leaves no one behind”.

People Before Profit’s candidate is Ruairi Fahy, who has said Limerick needs as “activist mayor who will live on a worker’s wage and be on the side of the people”.

He is also running as the party’s representative in Limerick City North in the local elections that will take place at the same time.

Sarah Beasley announced in March that she is running for Aontú. Beasley is an Aontú representative in the city for the past number of years and is a homelessness activists. She volunteers with a homelessness outreach group and an animal rights group in the city.

“It’s time to speak up and stand up for Limerick and I would be honoured to use the office of Mayor as platform to demand better for the people, all of the people,” she said. 

Gerben Uunk is running for the Party for Animal Welfare, which he co-founded.

He previously served as a local councillor in Amsterdam for the Dutch Green Party in the 1990s and was a fraud investigator based in Co Clare for 15 years. He also intends to run in Limerick’s local elections in Newcastle West.

Along with party-nominated candidates, there are three independents in the running so far: Frankie Daly, Helen O’Donnell and John Moran.

Daly has been a local councillor since 2014. 

O’Donnell is a businesswoman who runs the Hunt Café in Limerick’s Hunt Museum and catering company Dolmen Catering, and was an honorary national secretary for Fine Gael.

Moran was formerly the Secretary General of the Department of Finance and the Chair of the Land Development Agency.

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With reporting by Hayley Halpin and Lauren Boland