New British PM held talks with top Limerick politicians

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham - during his tenure as Manchester mayor - receives a book celebrating Limerick's senior hurlers' efforts alongside a bottle of Limerick-distilled whiskey from Cllr Daniel Butler, when he was first citizen | .

placeholder image — British Prime Minister Andy Burnham - during his tenure as Manchester mayor - receives a book celebrating Limerick's senior hurlers' efforts alongside a bottle of Limerick-distilled whiskey from Cllr Daniel Butler, when he was first citizen | .

‘It must be the first time a British Prime Minister knows who the Mayor of Limerick is’

THE election of Andy Burnham as British Prime Minister may mark the first time in history that someone in his position actually knows who the Mayor of Limerick is.

That’s according to Mayor John Moran, who has held a number of meetings in recent years with the British Labour party leader, who up until June, was the directly elected mayor of Manchester.

As well as this, Mr Burnham, who has succeeded Sir Keir Starmer as the country’s leader, met Fine Gael councillor Daniel Butler, when he was Limerick’s first citizen.

Cllr Butler, who visited the British Prime Minister in Manchester back in 2022, presented him with a book celebrating Limerick's then back-to-back Liam MacCarthy winning senior hurling panel, and a bottle of Sailor’s Home Whiskey.

Reflecting on the meeting, the City West polltopper said: “He was very friendly, very approachable. We are both big music fans, so that broke the ice, and we spoke a bit about sport – he’s an Everton fan, I'm a Liverpool fan!”

Mr Burnham won a by-election near Manchester in June, despite poor poll ratings for Labour, and the move paved the way for his route to Downing Street.

"He was charismatic at the time," said Cllr Butler. “He always had a very strong voice, a voice for the north of England. Any issues for that region, he was the go-to boy. What power he had, he maximised it for the benefit of northern England. You could see the ambition he had for Manchester, that region, and the energy he had, so it’s no surprise.”

The Fine Gael councillor says he thinks the fact he served almost a decade as Mayor of Manchester will put him in good stead on what communities want - and hopes that moving to Westminster will not leave him disconnected.

Mayor Moran met Mr Burnham in Dublin the year after he became Limerick's first directly elected first citizen.

Mayor John Moran with Andy Burnham, and Bev Craig, who has just been elected the new Mayor of Manchester in the by-election which followed her Labour colleague's elevation to parliament | .

"It’s possibly the first time the Prime Minister of the UK knows who the Mayor of Limerick is,” he added, pointing out that he also shared a joke with the politician, who has 25 years’ experience of senior politics.

"Greater Manchester is now twinned with Austin. It's a bit of a joke we had, that we twinned with Austin before Manchester did, and we won Europride, which they lost,” he laughed.

"I think he gets the importance of not having all the power centralised in London. If you look at the record he has in Manchester, he’s done amazingly well. Its growth level, the number of jobs being created, the number of investments far exceeds the national average in the UK,” said Mayor Moran.

He believes if Mr Burnham achieves success in Britain, it will spill over into Ireland.

"I am really hopeful it will be positive for Ireland. If the agenda of balanced regional development picks up steam in the UK under his leadership, I’d be hopeful places like Galway, Limerick or Cork will see the same thing,” said the mayor.

Cllr Butler said he had invited Mr Burnham over to Limerick to speak about the directly elected mayoralty and how it was adopted in Manchester. He says comparisons can be drawn between Manchester and Limerick, given both cities’ riverside locations and working class history.