Limerick mayor’s ‘remote’ meeting attendance under scrutiny

MAYOR of Limerick, John Moran’s extended absence sparked sharp criticism at a meeting of Limerick City and County Council, with councillors questioning his ability to lead from abroad, raising concerns over governance.

Mayor Moran is currently on annual leave but attended the meeting remotely.

Cllr Michael Collins opened the discussion on the mayor's absence, saying: “You won't be physically in Limerick. I think that's absolutely appalling to hear that because you're the leader of this council...To hear that you'd be away for four weeks is absolutely mind-boggling.”

Cllr Dan McSweeney asked whether executive powers had been properly delegated: “In your absence, mayor, I think it's really important that this local authority continues to function. Has a delegation order been signed to delegate powers to Dr Daly?”

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Mayor Moran said he would arrange for others to be able to sign a delegation if something was urgent. “I'm essentially still working full-time at the moment on all of them and checking everything that needs to be done. I think I cleared about 40 mayoral orders on the Friday and Saturday before I left to go to Dublin.”

Cllr Adam Teskey demanded answers from the mayor regarding a €1.2 million property purchase outside Adare and questioned his absence during debates on the Local Property Tax (LPT). “I'm amazed really because some of us can't leave this chamber for four days, never mind four weeks.

“I want to know who's running the ship here?... We don't have the leader of the council … to talk to us about (LPT) so I think we need to get clarity as to when the debates that surround the LPT are going to take place inside in this chamber that we were elected to, not over in Spain, France or over in Bordeaux... but Ireland, Limerick.”

The Fine Gael councillor continued: “I was hoping that you would be in attendance today... you indeed signed a mayoral order on the 9th of April to purchase a council house for 1.2m outside a red line in Adare, Co Limerick.” He added that it must be “the most expensive council house in the world”.

“I want to know answers and I won't stop til I get the answers, mayor. If it means that we'll call a special full meeting of this council and fly you home, I'll do it.”

Mayor Moran defended his attendance record and pointed to confusion over meeting scheduling. “We've had conversations about whether the mayor has to attend or not and the department has actually confirmed that that's not the case but I'm nonetheless attending today.”

Cllr Liam Galvin proposed a written record of meeting participation. “We need to have a written record of our own signatures of meetings that we've attended.”

Cllr Sharon Benson questioned the rescheduling of the meeting, saying: “The mayor has pointed out that this meeting was scheduled for the 21st and it was rescheduled to the 14th after the mayor indicated he couldn't be here today so I want to know who scheduled that meeting.”

Cllr John Sheahan highlighted that under current legislation, councillors “could spend the rest of their time in Timbuktu online if they wanted to.” He suggested that they write to Minister James Browne to change the legislation back that except under exceptional circumstances you have to be in the chamber.

The issue of administrative continuity was also raised by Cllr Joe Leddin, who said: “I would agree with certain elements of the comments, certainly the fact that if the mayor is away for several weeks or so and the DG isn't able to sign mayoral orders well then how do we actually operate?”

Mayor Moran was contacted by the Leader last Wednesday and it was clear that he was working during his annual leave. He said: “This meeting was originally scheduled for a different date on which I would have been fully available. When the suggestion was made to move it to this alternative date at the last council meeting, I pointed out that I could not physically be there.”