Directly Elected Mayor

elperello

Outsider butting in again with a bit of advice.

Limerick has a unique opportunity to make something of the elected mayor role.

Rise above your differences and concentrate on what it can do for your city.

If it's to be either a success or a failure please let it be for real substantial reasons not just local infighting.

Cookiemunster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122288990#Comment_122288990

Don't worry. I'm sure John Moran has actual plans and that wearing a robe today won't actually affect those plans.

Pman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122287670#Comment_122287670

Well he loves France, speaks a little Francias and apparently founded an apple juice kiosk somewhere on the cote de sur.. But he's probably most aware of Napoleon's antics in Notre Dame in 1804 where he placed his own crown on his own head. I'd love if he's have tried that today in St Marys; right under the nose of the hoy poloy of Limerick.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122288146#Comment_122288146

I thought this would have been a nice chance to change all that stupid looking shte.

But it's not Moran's fault they didn't.

Cetyl Palmitate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122293334#Comment_122293334

It's not a big deal in the grand scheme of things but I agree. No need for this carry on nowadays. The robes and chains should be kept as a display in the mayor's office or somewhere.

Pman

There was an interesting enlightening clip on Lav95 where the returning officer said how they themselves had a "big" hand in drafting the legislation. So they wrote the responsibilities for Merchants quay ????? and then sent it to Dublin for signoff. It's no wonder it took 4 years given their record of project management in city hall, O Connell Street footpath scheme and Liemrick Main Drainage ( which by the way was supposed to cost 10 million but actually cost 83 million , in old maney, Citee of Culture 2014 , I remember Dolores O Riordan had a concert in front of City hall and 100 hundred turned up becasue they forgot to advertise it. On another occassion , Sharon Shannon played in Arthurs Quay after the Pats day parade and 4 people turned up , apart from myself and the wife and kids.

Cookiemunster

The Dept for Housing, Local Government and Heritage drafted the legislation and it's them and the Minister who were responsible for the time it took to get the legislation through the Oireachtas.

Senior members of staff on LCCC would have been asked for an input though and the returning officer was Caroline Curley who is Director of Services for Housing for LCCC.

Celmullet

How about now? Can this be considered a little bit pompous?

Mayor of Limerick, John Moran will uphold the ancient maritime tradition of ‘dropping the dart’ into the River Shannon in Limerick City at 11am this Friday 28 June.

https://x.com/LimerickCouncil/status/1806336273788899623

Pman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122311122#Comment_122311122

Crowning himself in Limerick's Notre Dame last week , very 1804 Napoleonesque altogther. And now this . What will shooting his dart in to the Shannon achieve.

He should be working out a strategy to stop Dublin taking water from the Shannon; instead of doing black magic in it. That's the big news this week from the Dail and not a word about it in Limerick.

Why not move half the people in Dublin down to Limerick instead of building the biggest pipe in Eurasia to bring water to them. This is not sustainable. This is not decentralisation. This is not balanced regional development. This is not Limerick acting as a counterbalance to Dublin. This is Dublin centric thinking ; something the Mayor and candidates said that they would fight against. If this goes ahead , we might aswell all head to Dublin.

adaminho

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122311696#Comment_122311696

https://www.rte.ie/archives/2017/0504/872411-shannon-estuary-festival/

Should he just stop every tradition just because you don't like it? It dates back to 1834 and is a photo op that takes 5 minutes.

Cookiemunster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122311696#Comment_122311696

Firstly, he didn't do anything himself. Whoever won the mayoral election was getting that investment ceremony. There was nothing at all Napoleonesque about it (And there kind of has to be a crown for somebody to crown themselves).

Secondly, there is nothing he can do about the Dublin water scheme. A) it's not happening in Limerick and B) even if it was, his remit doesn't give him the power to overturn government decisions.

banie01

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122311898#Comment_122311898

Surely this wee ceremony would be a perfect addition to Riverfest? Almost tailor made for it tbh.

Poxyshamrock

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122312403#Comment_122312403

it used to be done as part of it before and maybe it will again next year and in subsequent years.

Pman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122311898#Comment_122311898

1834 is hardly "ancient" . I expected something that was from the middle ages. 1834 is probably ancient for a millenial though

Pman

Exactement Cookie. He cant do anything about government decisions about the hospital either but it shouldn't stop him being an advocate for it. So why not be an advocate for the River Shannon to ensure the much lauded "counterbalance to Dublin" . Allowing Dublin to extract 350 million litres a day from the Shannon will place limits on Limericks extraction at Clareville (Clareville, which is in Co Limerick, once manageed by the Limerick Corpo, but now Irish Water). Limerick currently extracts 40MLD , Dublin proposes to extract 350 MLD. The extraction point may be in Parteen Co Clare but it's the same Shannon. If it goes ahead there will be a revised permanent cap placed on Limerick's extraction at Clareville ( currently 80MLD). SAC regulations , Habitats directive and Nature Restoration law will side with Dublin. Time to buy a Leinster jersey. The red glory days are far behind us.

Pman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122312345#Comment_122312345

Exactement Cookie. He cant do anything about government decisions about
the hospital either but it shouldn't stop him being an advocate for it.
So why not be an advocate for the River Shannon to ensure the much
lauded "counterbalance to Dublin" . Allowing Dublin to extract 350
million litres a day from the Shannon will place limits on Limericks
extraction at Clareville (Clareville, which is in Co Limerick, once
manageed by the Limerick Corpo, but now Irish Water). Limerick
currently extracts 40MLD , Dublin proposes to extract 350 MLD.
The extraction point may be in Parteen Co Clare but it's the same
Shannon. If it goes ahead there will be a revised permanent cap placed
on Limerick's extraction at Clareville ( currently 80MLD).
SAC regulations , Habitats directive and Nature Restoration law will
side with Dublin. Time to buy a Leinster jersey. The red glory days
are far behind us.

Cookiemunster

I'm not sure if certain posters are anti the role of Mayor or anti John Moran. Either way, I'm out, as the arguments are ridiculous and not worth engaging with.

phog

John Moran was not my choice for mayor, he's only in the job a few days so I'm willing to give him time. I'm happy he has stuck with tradition of the ceremonial dress for the conferring (or whatever it should be referred to) of the office, I don't really care of he throws something into the river (in keeping with tradition) or not.

I would be 100% against water being taken from the Shannon for Dublin water but there is no need for our mayor to engage in a public spat on it. I would assume one of Moran's strengths is as a negotiator, he might well be taking up the issue of syphoning off water in a forum more suited than on the public airways.

I'm willing to give the mayor a chance and see what he brings to the office but more importantly what he brings to the city and county.

Trouwe Ier

The proposed abstraction of water from the River Shannon is not just for Dublin. It is clearly stated that:

"It will bring treated water from the Parteen Basin to Peaumont in Dublin with the capacity for offtakes along the route in Tipperary, Offaly and Westmeath. It will also enable supplies serving Dublin to be redirected back locally in Carlow, Wicklow, Meath and Louth."

Borrisokane, Newport and Moneygall are mentioned.

It is also clearly stated that a maximum of 2% of the flow in the Shannon will be abstracted.

Water is too precious to get parochial about. Those of us in Limerick City are drinking some of the water that has fallen as rain in Fermanagh, Cavan, Leitrim, Roscommon, Longford, Westmeath etc. etc.,

Those who drink water treated in plants along the River Maigue are drinking some of the water that has fallen as rain in Co. Cork.

Those who drink imported bottled water are drinking some of the water from France etc. etc.

The River Inny is much nearer Dublin than Limerick but we drink some of its water and they don't.

Where do we draw the line here?

Just for perspective, the distance between the Shannon Bridge and Sarsfield Bridge is c. 460m and the width of the river is c. 165m so the "footprint" of that slug of water has a surface area of 74,250m2. Obviously, there is a huge tidal amplitude in the river there but if we assume a very conservative average depth of 2m, then that suggests a volume of 148,500m3 or 148.5 million litres

Now there is an accepted average consumption of 150 litres/day (EPA codes of practice for domestic waste water treatment systems), so there is (in theory) enough volume in that slug alone to cater for almost one million people each day.

Now I accept that there is a pipe leakage rate of about 36%, that some industries consume lots of water and that there are other "complications", so let's reduce that population figure to 600,000 to compensate. There's a lot of water out there and it flows through the city continuously.

This proposal isn't going to bleed the Shannon dry or bankrupt the tourism industry.

Yes, there is an argument about the skewed nature of development in favour of Dublin. Both our poor planning and indeed our reluctance to take hard decisions over the decades have let us down but we live in a small island where resources need to be utilised efficiently.

Let the statutory agencies decide and as long as that process is lawful, transparent and above reproach, I won't lose sleep.

It's going to look very parochial indeed if politicians in the mid-west get stroppy about this.

Anyway, maybe we should get back to the DEM issue.

phog

Well I for one, hope they get very parochial to try and stop this piping of water from the Shannon to Dublin

Fix the leaks and they'll have enough water to supply their needs.

Red Silurian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122327573#Comment_122327573

I think this topic will eventually get its own thread but until then I'll just respond to the following point

The River Inny is much nearer Dublin than Limerick but we drink some of its water and they don't.

Surely there is a case here for a pipeline from the river Inny, or one of the many other locations you mention in your text that are closer to the capital, and a 172km pipeline costing €1.65bn should be the last resort, not the first? Especially if it's only 2% of the flow being diverted then why not build the pipeline further up the Shannon?

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122355500#Comment_122355500

It has it's own thread here -

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058103430/shannon-water-for-dublin

The Inny is quite a small river.

The original proposal was to abstract from Lough Ree just north of Athlone.

dunworth1

101 Actions: Mayor of Limerick Reveals Action Plan for First 101 Days

https://www.limerick.ie/council/newsroom/news/101-actions-mayor-of-limerick-reveals-action-plan-for-first-101-days

https://www.limerick.ie/sites/default/files/media/documents/2024-07/first-101-days-of-actions.pdf

Celmullet

I know I've proven myself already as not the biggest fan of the new Mayor (not the role, I think the role is a great idea). I do want my mind to change, I absolutely want the role to work, but will to say what I see when I see it, we can have the best for Limerick and be critical when it is warranted.

Having just read that document though, you have to ask how many of these 101 objectives are actions already been carried out by the Council. How many of them will now have the Mayor tag on them?

It was the Animating our City section that really jumped out to me on this, but other sections did too. If you got rid of points that were already in the Council calendar or in process, how many objectives would there actually be? Will he take credit for Heritage Week or Culture Night?