Limerick mayor John Moran alleges councillors' plot to make role 'unbearable'

MAYOR John Moran has launched an extraordinary attack on some of his colleagues on the local authority, accusing them of exploiting his “ill-health” and harbouring “personal hostility” towards him.

He claims their actions form part of a deliberate strategy to “make the role unbearable” and “create such sufficient pressure I might walk away”.

In a blog published to his own personal website, Mayor Moran alleged this plot had been openly discussed.

The mayor also claimed that some colleagues had reduced his “serious health concerns” to “trivial language” at a meeting he felt forced to leave early last week.

He added disagreements he has had with members have become “dismissive or mocking”.

And he even suggested council director general Dr Pat Daly did not intervene to alert councillors to his disapproval of the corporate plan, which councillors voted through in his absence last week.

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The corporate plan is a roadmap setting out what council aims to achieve, how it will do it and the values guiding its work.

Councillors met last Tuesday to vote it through, but the session was adjourned on a number of occasions for behind-closed-doors discussion. Like many meetings this term, it was marked by infighting.

Mayor Moran sparked concern when he left County Hall of his own accord five hours into the seven hour meeting, saying he felt unwell. 

However, councillors passed the plan in his absence - despite a plea from some members to let the mayor view the document first.

And it is this which appears to have prompted the 2,250 word post on his personal website, with Mayor Moran describing the meeting as “one of the lowest points” since his election in 2024.

In his letter, he praised a cross-party group of councillors who did try to stop the vote taking place.

But what he described as a “small negotiating group” from Fine Gael and Fianna Fail “directed their colleagues to outvote the others using their majority and preferring to take advantage of my ill-health.”

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“They used their voting control to pass a document of which they knew I did not approve- a disapproval it seems no-one (not even the director general) explained to other councillors not involved in the negotiating team,” added Mayor Moran.

He said he was told the vote took place in order to “not open a Pandora’s box”.

“In reality, it was a political manoeuvre to make sure the very amendments I wanted would not be pressed if there was a debate at a later date,” he added.

“What should have been a structured exchange in the chamber became a compressed and pressured process in which the mayor was effectively isolated from the chamber where key discussions should have been taking place,” he said. “That is not healthy democratic practice.”

Mayor Moran said he had to leave the meeting “to avoid the risk of a medical emergency” and made it clear he was not happy with the make-up of the corporate plan.

He rejected claims there was little difference between the position of the councillors and his views.

On his health, Mayor Moran said he had been in hospital for cardiac tests, and during the meeting he had advised those present he was experiencing symptoms which worried him.

“Symptoms consistent with why I had been in hospital hours earlier,” he added.

“I was experiencing serious physical stress induced discomfort. Leadership requires resilience, but it does not require recklessness. The intensity of the proceedings compounded an already physically difficult day and indeed year.”

He added: “When disagreement becomes dismissive and mocking - when serious health concerns are reduced to trivial language and not accommodated - it diminishes the very institution itself.”

The mayor said it is a “small minority” of councillors within the Civil War parties who have “consistently opposed every significant initiative I have brought forward”.

He pointed to criticism of his flagship scheme to use modular homes to tackle the housing shortage in Limerick.

“A strategic land purchase in Patrickswell for housing and other amenities - widely applauded across the country and supported by many within the chamber - had been relentlessly criticised and lobbied against,” Mayor Moran added.

He claimed there has been “repeated procedural obstacles placed in the way of my routine work”.

“These are not the actions of people seeking collaboration. They are the tactics of those determined to resist change and ensure my term as mayor cannot be successful,” his letter continued.

The first citizen also pointed out that in 2024, Limerick’s electorate chose an Independent candidate to hold the role of directly elected mayor.

“In choosing an independent mayor with the experience I brought to the election, they voted decisively for a break from the past,” said Mayor Moran, a former secretary general at the Department of Finance.

The first citizen also claimed that people from outside Limerick have described the local authority as “unusually combative”.

“We should reflect on that,” he concluded.

Limerick Live has reached out to Fianna Fail council leader, Cllr Michael Collins and Fine Gael council leader, Cllr John Sheahan for a response.

Limerick City and County Council has also been asked to respond to the mayor’s post.