Prominent Limerick figure John Moran today confirmed that he wants to be Limerick’s first directly elected Mayor, and to lead the city and county for the next five years as a strong and effective independent
But he pointed out that the newly-passed legislation contains an extra hurdle for anyone independent of party politics, and laid down a challenge to his supporters to formally nominate him as a candidate.
“I love Limerick so much, and as Mayor I will work, day and night, for us to match our potential as a county,” he said. “But even to get on the ballot as an independent, I need dozens of Limerick voters to nominate me.”
Under the new law, while party candidates can simply be nominated by Head Office in Dublin, independent candidates must gather the signatures of at least 60 Limerick voters to be allowed to run.
Moran who has been a strong advocate of the new role and strongly campaigned during the plebiscite in 2019 said today he had launched his own website – johnmoran.ie -- to help him earn the nominations of people from every part of Limerick, and to build support for his vision for the city and county.
The website details why he is running, and why he believes his broad level of business experience and record of public service and independence makes him ideally suited to the new role.
“Finally, the era of a largely-ceremonial, part-time Mayor for Limerick, and selected by the parties on a rota, is over,” he said. “The new full-time executive Mayor, chosen directly by the people for five years, will develop how an annual budget of almost one billion euros should be invested.”
He added: “On the Mayor’s shoulders will be pivotal decisions which will have consequences for decades in our county. Make those correctly, and the future will be bright. Get them wrong and we will slip further behind other areas in Ireland.”
Moran said it was already obvious that Limerick would be better off with a non-party person in this new and vital role.
“The Mayor will also have to work in ways we have never seen before, with councillors right across the political spectrum and from both city and county,” Moran said.
“He or she will have to advocate credibly and strategically for Limerick with other stakeholders and government ministers, including those with strong policy views which might not align immediately with Limerick’s best interests,” he added.
Moran said he felt humbled by the support from members of the public he had already received as a result of being speculated upon by Limerick political commentators as a leading candidate, and was optimistic about his chances.
As a commitment to democracy, Moran said he has also devoted part of his website simply to encouraging as many Limerick residents as possible to register to vote, with clear instructions and direct links to the Register of Elections site.
We now urgently need to debate what we need from our new Mayor with their new executive powers, how they will work with the councillors and officials.
People need to know all of this and more before they make their democratic decision and choose their Mayor,” he said.
“I have long believed Limerick has huge untapped potential which can be realised by an executive mayor with the right skills and life experiences. We can be more ambitious than we have been about outcomes. We deserve better delivery of important infrastructure, housing, public services and business supports. Other candidates may differ from me of course and argue for the status quo and voters need to hear us debate those differences too.”
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Note to editors:
John Moran, 57, lives in Limerick City, grew up in Mungret-Patrickswell and has deep family roots in Athea, West Limerick. He served as Secretary General of the Department of Finance, leading Ireland’s economic recovery and return to markets during the troika years and as board member of the European Investment Bank, the world’s largest multinational policy bank. He has campaigned actively since 2019 for Limerick to have a directly elected Mayor. He currently holds a number of business roles, including board member of Shannon Airport Group, Chair of Grid Finance, Director of Mannok, Member of the Advisory board of Takumi Precision Engineering and Chair of the Limerick Tunnel PPP as well as being CEO and Founder of RHH International. He is also known for his voluntary work as Chair of the Hunt Museum and Narrative 4 and for launching the Colbert Quarter plans in Limerick during his time as Chair of the Land Development Agency.