“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him”
Beware the ides of March, indeed!
The dogs of war over in Fianna Fáil had the daggers out for their long-suffering Limerick ruler at the last full gathering of the local authority for 2025. Not that they love Mayor John Moran less, mind, but they will tell you they love Limerick more.
Priomh Chomhairleoir and commander of the armies of Limerick City East, Cllr Catherine Maximus Slattery had the claws out in the Dooradoyle chambers as she gave her very best Shania Twain impression. After asking what steps the directly-elected Mayor has taken to revitalise the city centre, she vowed to have her vengeance on him in this life or the next.
Moran had, only moments before, waxed lyrical about a range of actions being advanced to create a vibrant, attractive, and competitive retail environment in the city, but that don’t impress Slattery much!
“To be honest, I’m disappointed. I just feel that anything you mentioned would have already been done with or without a directly-elected Mayor,” she opined.
“I understand that most of these initiatives originated from the Council or government, which ones were put forward exclusively by yourself? Where are the tangible improvements to Limerick City centre since your election 18 months ago?” she demanded.
Alas, the butchers were only sharpening their knives.
Cllr Michael Maximus Collins, General of the Felix Legions, rowed in on the monthly insurrection.
His excellency Mayor Moran thanked councillors for their confidence, in terms of working together with him over the next couple of years.
“Rome wasn’t built in a day,” he hath protested. But he wasn’t getting off that easy.
“Certainly Rome wasn’t built in a day, Mayor, but you’re here a year and a half,” Cllr Collins blasted.
And as anyone who regularly attends Limerick Council meetings will tell you, “the beating heart of Rome is not the marble of the Senate; it’s the sand of the Colosseum.”
General Collins was of the humble view that the most significant failure he has witnessed since the inauguration of Limerick’s first directly-elected Mayor is the closure of the International Rugby Experience. Stirring the excreta, he asked his reverence if there has been any movement in relation to the iconic O’Connell Street building, which recorded losses of €1.05m last year.
But Moran was not without his allies.
“In relation to Cllr Collins’ query about the Irish Rugby Experience, he may have seen recently published reports of the accounts for 2024 where it lost €1million last year,” Green Party councillor Seán Hartigan revealed.
“So to say we dodged a bullet there by not taking on the Rugby Experience is no exaggeration. Well done Mayor for highlighting the issues with us.”
As far as Emperor Pat Daly was concerned, it was a case of ‘don’t mention the war’ and ‘nothing to see here’ as he said the Council and JP McManus “agreed to stand off it and let people have time and space to think through. We’re still in that period.”
A tide in the affairs of men, there most certainly is. Where it will lead is anyone’s guess, but Limerick, like Rome, “hast lost the breed of noble bloods”. Let’s just hope that we too won’t burn to the ground!
– Local Democracy Reporting Scheme