“FUNDAMENTAL flaws” in the legislation governing the Office of the Directly-Elected Mayor (DEM) need to be addressed pronto!
That’s according to Limerick Chamber, who have rowed in behind MayorJohn Moran to demand an immediate review of the DEM legislation. Any further delay, they maintain, risks squandering a major opportunity for meaningful local government reform and causing serious reputational damage to Limerick.
Truth be told, at this point we’ve seen over a year-and-a-half of squandering this untested opportunity, so does Minister James Browne have any real intention of getting up, getting on up, like a hex machine, and sorting this mess out?
The Chamber maintains that the current framework falls well short of the ambition originally promised to the people of Limerick, a point made by many long before June 7, 2024. The Office of the Mayor, they say, now needs to be provided with the authority, resources, and executive powers needed to deliver real progress.
Tell us something we don’t know! Our DEM’s powers right now have about as much concentration as MiWadi.
The Chamber won’t get any argument out of Mayor Moran on the increased power front. The lads and lassies in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, of course, will probably take a very different viewpoint – until at least they can get their mitts on the Merchant’s Quay hot-seat.
Limerick Chamber now want the Government to use the review process to address the legislation’s core weaknesses removing the “ambiguity” currently hampering effective leadership.
“Limerick was promised a bold new model of local leadership with the ability to deliver progress, but what has emerged is a diluted structure that is already showing its limitations,” said CEO of Limerick Chamber, Donnacha Hurley.
And while everyone’s favourite cordial offers a little sunshine in every drop, when it comes to our DEM and local authority, it has thus far proved more a case of, ‘It’s not your Wadi, it’s MiWadi’.
If it’s ambiguity you are after, Limerick City and County Council have had it by the payload since our new overlord took office. And the Chamber are spot on, soul brother James Browne does need to get the lead out before they make an even bigger laughing stock out of us and our guinea pig mayor.
“Continued delay not only weakens confidence, it also risks serious reputational damage to Limerick as a place that is unable to deliver on its own reform agenda,” the Chamber CEO warned.
Be careful though what you wish for. It was once famously said that a reformer is one who sets forth cheerfully towards defeat.
– Local Democracy Reporting Scheme