Limerick mayor visits Manchester as links are copper-fastened

MAYOR Daniel Butler has moved to strengthen Limerick’s links with Manchester after holding meetings with its fist citizen.

Councillor Butler met the high-profile Mayor of Manchester Andy Burnham at a special event in the northern English city last week.​

And it’s anticipated the Labour party politician will make a return visit to Limerick later this year.​

Created in 2015, the role of Greater Manchester’s mayor sees Mr Burnham lead 10 local authorities across England’s north-west, and Limerick’s first citizen says there is a lot to learn from the role, given it carries powers in the areas of health, transport, housing, planning, waste management and policing.

Limerick, of course, voted in a plebiscite​ to elect its own executive mayor, with voters expected to go to the polls later this year.

Limerick forward joins Ulster Rugby for next season

“It is doing everything we hope the Limerick mayor will be doing. Manchester has become an amazing northern counterbalance to London and I hope our directly elected mayor can become this in terms of our counter-balance to Dublin. To hear their learning and progress to amalgamation which we have already come through, and the progress to the Directly Elected Mayor and the evolution of the powers that Andy Burnham has and his role in it, and indeed, the challenges they have is really interesting,” Cllr Butler said.

“I’m hoping this is just the begining of a relationship,” he added.

Mayor Butler presented his Manchester counterpart – who has strong Irish links – with a book marking the Limerick hurlers’ back-to-back All-Ireland wins, and a bottle of Sailors’ Home whiskey, produced on Shannonside. For more, visit www.limerickleader.ie