Mayoral reforms set to cover all of Limerick

LIMERICK’S directly elected mayor has released details of his roadmap for his five-year term of office.

From Abbeyfeale to Corbally, and Coonagh to Kilbehenny, Mayor John Moran has set out a roadmap of wide-ranging reforms for right across the county.

Following his election in June, he was compelled by law to produce a programme of office within four months of taking office.

He has taken half that time to produce a draft strategy, no doubt in the hope he can secure the attention of the Government, whose Budget is in October.

The strategy will be scrutinised by councillors at a special meeting later this month.

In the 105-page document, Mayor Moran has set out a series of ambitious plans for between now and 2029.

And he has identified six sources of publicly available funding to potentially deliver these.

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A key plank of his mayoral programme, Mr Moran says, is safety.

He is going to seek extra resources for the gardai in Limerick, and hopes it will bring an end to the days when people calling for help are put through to a Cork call centre.

He added he will call for visible booths, and mobile garda vans in “areas of concern for crime, anti-social behaviour and drug use”.

An increase of enforcement to deal with illegal parking and an improvement of restrictions to facilitate safer street use are also on Mayor Moran’s agenda.

A 10-year plan to develop a wider range of retail businesses in the city centre is also part of his programme, with a council official appointed to deliver this.

And, if Mayor Moran gets his way, there will be a permanent commercial cinema open in the city centre for the first time in a generation.

He has pledged to resolve any issues which are preventing the Royal Cinema at Cecil Street re-opening.

“I believe it is possible to operate the office of mayor in a way which leads in more transparent government,” Mr Moran declared.

To this end, he says he will publish information about his diaries and expenses.

On top of this, he will also seek to publish information about the expenses of senior management in companies which are connected to the council, such as its development arm, Limerick Twenty Thirty.

He sees the Shannon Estuary coastline from Glin through Foynes to Askeaton as forming a “key strategic growth triangle” with Newcastle West.

Also in line for attention is Kilmallock, which Mayor Moran says is “ideally positioned to become a key transport hub”.
He wants to explore the potential of re-opening the town’s railway station putting Kilmallock on the Cork-Dublin line.

And, the first citizen hopes to persuade RTE to decentralise more of its operations from Dublin to Limerick.