A STORM of Greenlandic proportions is brewing in Merchant’s Quay and could do serious damage if the ship doesn’t change course lickety-split.
The winds have been howling for some time, but latest warning signs indicate the roof being lifted clean off City Hall at some stage if the thunderous what-about-ery, legal wrangling, and whatever you’re having yourself are anything to go by.
Can the two main men behind the Council machine work out their differences in 2026? Let’s hope so, so we can get back to the business of putting the focus on Limerick and not the backroom brawling.
This new dynamic hasn’t worked out because councillors made it very clear from day one in Council chambers that they weren’t open to it and opted to put barriers up at every turn.
- External Walls: Up to €8,000 Grant
- Attic: Up to €1,500 Grant
- Cavity Walls: Up to €1,700 Grant
- Internal Dry Lining: Up to €4,500 Grant
Shouldn’t we, perhaps, cut our losses, and just move back to business as usual pre-June 2024?
Or, here’s a frankly mad idea, give the Mayor a real shot at working his magic in 2026 by working with him. Get behind the man the people clearly wanted for this role.
Sure, it wasn’t perfect before, but at least everyone knew who they were answerable to and where the buck stopped. These days, the Council is looking more like Saipan with Keane and McCarthy going at it in the dugout. It’s exhausting, and at times, downright parochial.
The problem here, of course, is age-old. Turn on any nature programme or the History Channel, and there it is staring you straight in the face – bravado!
There’s too many chefs spoiling the broth in LCCC and nobody seems to know whose job it is to make the swill agreeable. They have tried, failed, and up to this point made a dog’s dinner of the mayoral experiment.
But wasn’t that the whole point of having a DEM? One Mayor to rule them all!
The finger of blame can’t be pointed at any one individual, Mayor, management, councillors, they’re all guilty of it. Maybe it was doomed from the beginning. It certainly feels that way.
Alas, you need ego for politics and Limerick’s public servants are drowning in its bilious waters at present. Maybe someone in Dublin will throw them a lifeline, get down to Limerick and clear this mess up, so that they can all agree on one thing at last – that Dublin needs to get back up the M7 and stay out of Limerick’s business.
Personally, I don’t fancy the odds, but we live in hope.
– Local Democracy Reporting Scheme