With 15 candidates standing for election as directly elected mayor on 7 June it’s clear that the vote in Limerick is going to be fragmented, but we believe that John Moran is the standout candidate, and here’s five (of many) reasons why.
1. He’s independent
It’s crucial that the DEM is independent of party politics as they will need to work with 40 councillors from a variety of political backgrounds. Being independent means that the mayor can focus solely on what is best for Limerick, rather than what’s best for the party they’re a member of.
2. He has experience managing big budgets
The DEM will receive not only €40 million in funding from government to put their programme into action, they will also be responsible for proposing Limerick City and County Council’s annual budget, which for 2024 came to almost €1.5 billion. Experience managing large budgets will be crucial to this role and this is where John Moran really excels. John has held several board roles in his career including being a member of the board of the European Investment Bank which allocates €60 billion every year to both the public and private sectors. He has also held the role of secretary general of Ireland’s department of finance and during his time in the public sector he oversaw the transformation of the Central Bank of Ireland and the NTMA. No other candidate comes close when it comes to experience managing big budgets.
3. He’s innovative
Limerick needs change, and it needs someone innovative to facilitate that change. Doing things the same old way will get us nowhere. We have worked with John on several projects for Limerick and he has one of the most creative minds out there. He genuinely thinks outside the box and uses his experiences working and living abroad to come up with different ways of finding solutions to problems. He has been involved in, lead and/or driven several projects for the benefit of Limerick including:
- the beautiful redesign of the garden at the Hunt Museum.
- the Lean On Me voucher scheme during Covid which helped struggling businesses.
- Liveable Limerick, a volunteer group that strives to make Limerick more liveable.
- GameCube – a world class museum of games and their history, earmarked for the Franciscan Church on Henry Street.
- The Colbert station redevelopment, a walkable, liveable and sustainable development of housing for up to 15,000 people, as well as cultural, commercial, and amenity spaces.
4. He has a tangible plan
One of the most striking things about the debates so far has been the lack of tangible plans from several of the candidates. Maurice Quinlivan, for example, said on Live 95’s Limerick Today that he sees the role as being mainly a representative and advocacy type role for the first year, and when asked by Katie Hannon on the RTE televised debate if he had “thought about what he was going to spend the €40 million on”, his response was that he would sit down with stakeholders as soon as possible after the election. Helen O’Donnell meanwhile has referred to enhancing the retail offering in the city centre and establishing an ‘accelerator’ unit in the local authority to deliver houses, but it’s not clear how she plans to enhance the retail offering or how an ‘accelerator’ unit will deliver houses in practice. John Moran has set out over 300 examples of actions he is committing to deliver over the five-year mayoral term, as can be seen on his website Moran for Mayor More Actions (johnmoran.ie).
5. He has relevant experience
John has worked at the highest level in both the public and private sectors. He’s a qualified lawyer and has experience working in the areas of finance and tax. He has experience working on several boards across a variety of industries and has been successful in bringing employment to Limerick. He led the campaign in 2019 for Limerick to have the opportunity to vote for a directly elected mayor and has experience running several other successful public campaigns. He grew up in county Limerick, has lived in the city centre and in the suburbs, and is now in the process of moving back into the city centre. He understands the needs of both city and county and he understands what it takes to make Limerick a leader both nationally and internationally.
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Eireannach Thar Lear 