Limerick mayor John Moran 'deeply disappointed' over ‘explicitly homophobic abuse’

MAYOR John Moran has admitted he was left “deeply disappointed” and “taken aback” by “explicitly homophobic abuse” directed at him over his Summer in the City plans.

“Debate, disagreement and scrutiny are essential parts of public life. Personal abuse and contempt for people, simply because they say they are enjoying and welcome something new, should have no part in our Limerick,” said the first citizen, who is openly gay.

Across the past month, a number of city centre streets have been closed to traffic, to make way for playing spaces, a communal dinner, an urban beach, and other sporting events.

The move provoked opposition from some traders - who organised a demonstration in July.

They claimed in particular that a loss of access at the Daniel O’Connell Monument would prompt a drop in trade for them.

But, reflecting on the month just gone, Mayor Moran has doubled down on the plans, saying he feels they were a success.

“No small group - political or otherwise - should have a permanent veto over Limerick’s future,” he said.

In an almost 3,000-word blog posted to his personal website, the executive mayor wrote: “What we witnessed was a city being rediscovered by the people - young families coming out to enjoy the city streets, and older residents overcoming hesitancies and discovering they too can enjoy a new safe feeling in the city centre into the evening,” he said.

The plans for Summer in the City almost did not get off the ground.

At the start of August, metropolitan district leader, Cllr Joe Pond, plus his Fianna Fail colleagues Catherine Slattery and Kieran O’Hanlon bid to use emergency legislation to stop the closures going ahead.

Their efforts came to nothing.

Mayor Moran said: “I will be honest: the effort to scupper the entire programme before it began was disheartening for a while until I was able to see more clearly the wider support for the plans. The attempted use of Section 140 [the emergency legislation] would, if successful, have stopped all the road closures and prevented the public from experiencing the programme and judging it by themselves.”

On social media, Summer in the City has prompted widespread debate.

While Mayor Moran welcomed this, he added: “I was also deeply disappointed and at times taken aback by some of the personally abusive comments directed at me and at supporters of Summer in the City on social media. Some descended into explicitly homophobic abuse. Others sought to dismiss those attending events as ‘elitists’, or not ‘ordinary’, whatever that is supposed to mean, even as families, children, older people and people from communities across Limerick made those spaces their own.”

As part of his comprehensive blog, he reflected on each area which was closed to vehicular traffic.

The urban beach at Steamboat Quay, he said, “was perhaps the greatest revelation”.

“A largely abandoned space became an urban beach by the river: somewhere parents and grandparents could make memories with children, friends could sit together and anyone who could watch the Shannon pass by. People could pause and enjoy their city without being required to spend money. And it worked in the evenings too.”

He says the response to the beach has given him the impetus to invest further in that part of Limerick.

He acknowledged closing The Crescent area around the Daniel O’Connell Monument would be “the most challenging, and in many ways bravest” parts of the Summer in the City measures.

“I will be candid: the first week did not work as I had hoped. Initially, the fountain was not operating properly. There was insufficient seating. Our communications team struggled to find the best way to tell people what was coming next, or help them understand and imagine how the space could be used,” Limerick’s first directly-elected mayor wrote.

However, this was tackled, he said, with the fountain repaired and more seating brought in, sparking an increase in usage.

“Business groups organised networking events in the pedestrianised spaces, demonstrating that opinion within Limerick’s business community was more varied than the July protest had suggested,” he said. “Generations have known The Crescent primarily as a traffic route. Asking people to reimagine it as a majestic Georgian plaza - a civic space worthy of our city - will take more than a few summer weekends.”

With September now under way, the closure measures have been lifted.

But Mayor Moran believes the die has been cast.

“Now that cars are back, children will likely ask to get back to the fountain to repeat fun games and not understand why cars have become a new obstacle,” he said.

While there was opposition, the first citizen said he was heartened by people stopping him in the streets to praise the initiatives.

“They sent emails too. They told me to keep going. More than a few put it in particularly Limerick terms: ‘Feck the begrudgers’. It was not so much animosity towards the objectors as an unmistakable huger for change - and encouragement when I need it. People had unexpected fun and wanted more,” he reflected.

Mayor Moran shared a study carried out by Mother Mac’s Pub, a venue which directly benefitted from outdoor seating due to a street closure.

Year-on-year, the bar reported sales growth of 16.8%, a rise in footfall of 10.5%, and around 60 extra visitors per day.

The mayor thought the measures led the spaces in the city centre to become “naturally free of anti-social behaviour.”

“What we witnessed was a city being rediscovered by the people - young families coming out to enjoy the city streets and older residents overcoming hesitancies and discovering they too can enjoy a new safe feeling in the city centre into the evening,” he concluded.