'Nothing will change unless you change', metropolitan leader warns Mayor of Limerick

LIMERICK’S metropolitan district leader, Cllr Daniel Butler has warned Mayor John Moran: “nothing will change unless you change”.

And he added he does not feel the first citizen has “the political leadership” needed to carry out the high-profile role.

The senior Fine Gael councillor made the comments during a dramatic meeting of the local authority, where the directly elected mayor was taken to task for comments he made on local radio about Christmas in Limerick.

On the interview, he said: “It’s a question of higher standards”, and said he had sent back proposals which he did not deem good enough.

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Cllr Butler, a former first citizen himself, secured more than 13,000 votes in the race to become Limerick’s first directly elected mayor.

He said as an opponent of Mayor Moran in that election, he has remained largely silent on the issue up to now.

But 18 months on, he has spoken out.

“The people I represent have been disempowered as I cannot deliver as much for them as I could in previous terms,” said Cllr Butler, who topped the poll in City West.

“I’ve seen service levels deteriorate because staff, I have been told, have been taken up with other projects that are aligned to the mayor’s programme. I’m getting more and more complaints from people and I’m having to explain there is only so much I can do. It’s becoming increasingly frustrating.”

Council director general Dr Pat Daly said last week’s meeting - which saw a motion of confidence passed in him and his staff - “has to make a difference” or “this organisation is in trouble”.

Cllr Butler said: “I have no confidence things are going to change if I’m honest. We’ve been here long enough. It’s not the first time we’ve had these discussions, saying we’ll give it a go, we’ll give it another chance.”

The Fine Gael man noted that Mayor Moran had, at that stage of the meeting, not said he had done anything wrong.

“You are really going to have to change your style of leadership, otherwise this will fail. It will be on your shoulders,” Cllr Butler said, in reference to the role of directly elected mayor.

Later on in the meeting, Mayor Moran was asked directly by Cllr Adam Teskey: “Do you accept some responsibility for the mayhem we find ourselves in? I'd appreciate a direct yes or no answer.”

He responded: “The answer is of course we are all responsible myself included. Everybody should look at themselves and think about their behaviour.”