Limerick Local Elections

Mc Love

Johnny_BravoIII wrote: »

What are peoples wishlists for Limerick for the next 5-10 years?
I.e. what should the newly elected councillors be trying to achieve?

Limerick city to be less car - oriented. Keep places like William st free of parking. Employ a 24hr towing service to eradicate illegal parking. More cycle and pedestrian areas in the city. Segregated cycle lane and QBCs to allow public transport to move freely around the city.

stefanovich

kilburn wrote: »

They can start with doing something on the budget to recruit 5 traffic wardens, 2 more litter wardens and 2 dog wardens.

All these would be cost neutral and profitable if actually policed.

The traffic wardens are useless. They give people tickets who are 15 minutes over in a car park but turn a blind eye to people stopping on william street and causing an actual danger or people parking on double yellow lines on a Sunday.

Enforce the rules you idiots.

stefanovich

Mc Love wrote: »

Limerick city to be less car - oriented. Keep places like William st free of parking. Employ a 24hr towing service to eradicate illegal parking. More cycle and pedestrian areas in the city. Segregated cycle lane and QBCs to allow public transport to move freely around the city.

They only tow cars parked in disused taxi ranks.

stefanovich

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

Seems the social democrats have no opinion on a lot of things, 15 of the 22 questions marked as no opinion.

I'm renua, direct democracy, social democrats (as they have no policies) and then Sinn Fein.

Surprised with Sinn Fein as I lean right but seriously **** FG and FF. The regional is a disgrace.

Johnny_BravoIII

IMO there is a opportunity for significant FDI into limerick city. Dublin and Galway are at capacity due to years of poor planning (although Dublin seem to be getting it together in the last few years). Limerick should seek to position itself as the business friendly location for international companies who want ease of access, good transport, office infrastructure, accomodation for staff, graduates, strong history of R&D in the region etc. Part of this is making the city centre a more attractive place for people to live. The rennovation of O'Connell street and the various city centre sites is critical. With a little vision the thomas street pedestrianisation could be extended up catherine street.

Reducing car access would make those streets places where people would 'hang out'.
This would incentivise coffee shops to cater for the new workers in the hanging gardens etc..

It would take very little to establish the city as 'bike friendly'. There is loads of room in the city centre to do this stuff compared to galway.

There is no reason why Limerick couldnt look to European cities and begin to remodel itself as one of Irelands most progressive developing cities.

When UK (post brexit) or US companies are looking for a place to base their EU HQ this is the type of stuff which matters.

Whilst there has been a lot of new places opening in recent years the city centre continues to look unappealing in spots.

Everything is there. It just needs a little vision and leadership to bring people along. This is one of the reasons why I believe the directly elected major could be interesting. The right person could make it happen.

kilburn

I agree think a major would do a better job than a mayor running this city.....

chicorytip

Johnny_BravoIII wrote:

Everything is there. It just needs a little vision and leadership to bring people along. This is one of the reasons why I believe the directly elected major could be interesting. The right person could make it happen.

You will never find a suitable candidate under the current electoral system. The only contestants will be existing or former local politicians who are not of the calibre required for such a job. Take John Moran for example, the former secretary general of the Department of Finance and a Limerickman. He seems to be somebody with initiative and original ideas and may well be ideally suited for the role of executive mayor. Does anybody seriously think he would be prepared to become a contestant in an election for the position? Of course not. He would have to be nominated for the post by the government. Varadkar seems not to have thought through this issue thoroughly enough but then again that's indicative of his approach to most matters.

LuasSimon

Crime is a big issue for many voters especially why local ethnic members can commit crime after crime and nothing happens them ??
Fine Gael seem to be lovers of the traveller community but even in affluent castletroy ordinary people are sick of all the robbing

zulutango

chicorytip wrote:

You will never find a suitable candidate under the current electoral system. The only contestants will be existing or former local politicians who are not of the calibre required for such a job. Take John Moran for example, the former secretary general of the Department of Finance and a Limerickman. He seems to be somebody with initiative and original ideas and may well be ideally suited for the role of executive mayor. Does anybody seriously think he would be prepared to become a contestant in an election for the position? Of course not. He would have to be nominated for the post by the government. Varadkar seems not to have thought through this issue thoroughly enough but then again that's indicative of his approach to most matters.

Why would he have to be nominated for the position by the government? I'd say he'd be up for it. He lives in the city centre and is heavily invested in it and wants to see it develop in an intelligent way.

keane2097

chicorytip wrote: »

You will never find a suitable candidate under the current electoral system. The only contestants will be existing or former local politicians who are not of the calibre required for such a job. Take John Moran for example, the former secretary general of the Department of Finance and a Limerickman. He seems to be somebody with initiative and original ideas and may well be ideally suited for the role of executive mayor. Does anybody seriously think he would be prepared to become a contestant in an election for the position? Of course not. He would have to be nominated for the post by the government. Varadkar seems not to have thought through this issue thoroughly enough but then again that's indicative of his approach to most matters.

I get the impression from following him on Twitter that he would jump at the opportunity actually.

stefanovich

How about fixing the cluster**** that is the hospital?

Fire all the managers out there. I can only describe them as parasites. Getting big salaries when the old and vulnerable are neglected and abused.

zulutango

stefanovich wrote: »

How about fixing the cluster**** that is the hospital?

Fire all the managers out there. I can only describe them as parasites. Getting big salaries when the old and vulnerable are neglected and abused.

If you fire the managers, then who would you get to manage it?

stefanovich

zulutango wrote: »

If you fire the managers, then who would you get to manage it?

A pack of feral cats would do a better job.

Someone competent. Preferably from outside the state. Not some buddy of some politician.

Cookiemunster

stefanovich wrote: »

How about fixing the cluster**** that is the hospital?

Fire all the managers out there. I can only describe them as parasites. Getting big salaries when the old and vulnerable are neglected and abused.

Not something that local politicians can do, so not relevant to a local election thread.

And firing the managers at UHL won't solve something which is a systematic issue on a national scale. It's not only happening in Limerick.

kilburn

Any city councillors who did not turn up for the vote on scraping the city mayor should not be re-elected

onthesod

zulutango wrote: »

Why would he have to be nominated for the position by the government? I'd say he'd be up for it. He lives in the city centre and is heavily invested in it and wants to see it develop in an intelligent way.

My experience of High Ranking CS is they are very good at keeping their job, not so good at rocking the boat though, regardless of whether they need to or not. If you want somebody who will shake things up and make real change, look to the private sector, give that person a specific mandate and then let them get on with the job, forget about politicians and civil servants (neither of whom have experience or interest in forging real change)

stefanovich

Cookiemunster wrote: »

Not something that local politicians can do, so not relevant to a local election thread.

And firing the managers at UHL won't solve something which is a systematic issue on a national scale. It's not only happening in Limerick.

Local politicians are not allowed to put pressure on the government to solve local issues?

Limerick is the worse hospital in the country, a national disgrace.

The more money they receive the worse they get.

If you have any experience in there you can see the place is beyond mismanaged.

zulutango

onthesod wrote: »

My experience of High Ranking CS is they are very good at keeping their job, not so good at rocking the boat though, regardless of whether they need to or not. If you want somebody who will shake things up and make real change, look to the private sector, give that person a specific mandate and then let them get on with the job, forget about politicians and civil servants (neither of whom have experience or interest in forging real change)

He's not a high ranking civil servant. In fact, he is private sector and came from the private sector before he did the Dept of Finance job. He retired from that about 5 years ago. He's currently interim chair of the Government Land Development Agency, but that's not a civil service role and he's only the interim chair until the legislation is enacted and a formal chair can be selected. That would all happen long before Limerick would be electing a DEM.

Cookiemunster

stefanovich wrote: »

Local politicians are not allowed to put pressure on the government to solve local issues?

Limerick is the worse hospital in the country, a national disgrace.

The more money they receive the worse they get.

If you have any experience in there you can see the place is beyond mismanaged.

A lot of hyperbole there. Limerick is the worst of a bad bunch when it comes to overcrowding at the A&E. That doesn't make it the worst hospital in the country. The source of overcrowding is the HSE decision (not local management) to close the A&E in St Johns, Ennis and Nenagh to anything other than minor cuts and bruises and send everything else to Limerick.

Anyone can lobby their local TD. It doesn't need to be done by councillors. And there are already plenty of lobby groups campaigning over the A&E crisis.

onthesod

zulutango wrote: »

He's not a high ranking civil servant. In fact, he is private sector and came from the private sector before he did the Dept of Finance job. He retired from that about 5 years ago. He's currently interim chair of the Government Land Development Agency, but that's not a civil service role and he's only the interim chair until the legislation is enacted and a formal chair can be selected. That would all happen long before Limerick would be electing a DEM.

Apologies - ex-high ranking CS. He came from the Central Bank (correct me if I'm wrong is that not CS?) to the Dept of Finance (which incidentally happens quite a bit). He may well have joined the Central bank from the private sector, that's generally where the Central bank recruits from. He retired from DoF. He is now interim chair of GLDA (not CS but a plum quango).

Was there a point to your post? Apart from highlighting the fact that the man may be free to take a job in 12-18 months?

chicorytip

zulutango wrote:

Why would he have to be nominated for the position by the government? I'd say he'd be up for it. He lives in the city centre and is heavily invested in it and wants to see it develop in an intelligent way.

keane2097 wrote:

I get the impression from following him on Twitter that he would jump at the opportunity actually.

If Varadkar favours directly elected mayoralties for all of our major cities - I presume it's not just Limerick he has in mind - does he intend that the currently elected local councils be abolished and the current city managers be made redundant? How would this be accomplished? By enacting new legislation or holding another referendum? That's why I say there is a lack of clarity and substance behind his comments. It's all just glib, elecioneering type guff.

chicorytip

LuasSimon wrote:

Crime is a big issue for many voters especially why local ethnic members can commit crime after crime and nothing happens them ?? Fine Gael seem to be lovers of the traveller community but even in affluent castletroy ordinary people are sick of all the robbing

Are you claiming the criminal justice system is biased in favour of offenders who happen to be members of the travelling community? In what way, exactly? Can you give any particular examples that serve to underline your point of view?

zulutango

chicorytip wrote: »

If Varadkar favours directly elected mayoralties for all of our major cities - I presume it's not just Limerick he has in mind - does he intend that the currently elected local councils be abolished and the current city managers be made redundant? How would this be accomplished? By enacting new legislation or holding another referendum? That's why I say there is a lack of clarity and substance behind his comments. It's all just glib, elecioneering type guff.

The proposal is that the directly elected Mayor would take on many of the functions that the CEO of the Council currently has. Limerick, Cork and Waterford people are being asked if they want it. Galway was left out because it has not had local government reforms yet. It's not a Varadkar thing. We would still be electing councillors as normal, but the Mayor would have power and he/she would be accountable to the people. I think it would be a huge improvement on the current situation.

More info here - https://www.housing.gov.ie/sites/default/files/publications/files/directly_elected_mayors_with_executive_functions_0.pdf

stefanovich

Cookiemunster wrote: »

A lot of hyperbole there. Limerick is the worst of a bad bunch when it comes to overcrowding at the A&E. That doesn't make it the worst hospital in the country. The source of overcrowding is the HSE decision (not local management) to close the A&E in St Johns, Ennis and Nenagh to anything other than minor cuts and bruises and send everything else to Limerick.

Anyone can lobby their local TD. It doesn't need to be done by councillors. And there are already plenty of lobby groups campaigning over the A&E crisis.

Why is the hospital full of elderly people waiting for MRI scans? It's a big queue. Seat to trolley, trolley to assessment, assessment to bed, bed to MRI and then home.

Half end up getting sent to Barringtons anyway for scans. Meanwhile they are fed toxic garbage that makes them sicker.

Cookiemunster

stefanovich wrote: »

Why is the hospital full of elderly people waiting for MRI scans? It's a big queue. Seat to trolley, trolley to assessment, assessment to bed, bed to MRI and then home.

Half end up getting sent to Barringtons anyway for scans. Meanwhile they are fed toxic garbage that makes them sicker.

Again. Not a problem unique to Limerick and not a local election issue. It'll rightly be a major issue at the next GE though.

bigpink

chicorytip wrote: »

Are you claiming the criminal justice system is biased in favour of offenders who happen to be members of the travelling community? In what way, exactly? Can you give any particular examples that serve to underline your point of view?

Look at all the crimes they commit and not charged

Mad_maxx

LuasSimon wrote: »

Crime is a big issue for many voters especially why local ethnic members can commit crime after crime and nothing happens them ??
Fine Gael seem to be lovers of the traveller community but even in affluent castletroy ordinary people are sick of all the robbing

FG are traditionally more sensitive to Irish Times and RTE criticism, that and how the urban wing would not come across travellers, FF used to be less concerned about middle class socialists in montrose tut tuting but that has changed since uber Woke Michael Martin took over

stefanovich

Cookiemunster wrote: »

Again. Not a problem unique to Limerick and not a local election issue. It'll rightly be a major issue at the next GE though.

I suppose you could punish FG in the local elections for the failings of their TDs though.

Mad_maxx

bigpink wrote: »

Look at all the crimes they commit and not charged

Authorities, beit AGS or social welfare or revenue are more reluctant to pursue travellers, who wants to be accused of racism and have colette browne or indeed Vincent browne publicly scold them

chicorytip

stefanovich wrote:

Some of the Casey's are nice people I'll have you know.

I am sure they are. That goes without saying. There are bad apples within most extended families however.