To understand me and why I care passionately about the DEM reform you have to understand some of my history, why I love Limerick so much and why I want it to be much better and match its enormous potential.

This is me explaining "my Limerick" to the colleages from the LDA when they made their first visit to Limerick as a board.  Sometimes we want to highlight only the nice things and successes of our county. There is much to shout about.  But to see what real positive change could look like it is important to also understand where we have gone wrong and to highlight where we need help.  

Behind me, is my old school building from my time in the CBS, Sexton Street.  Denis O'Connor a true Limerick leader (although hailing from Kerry) the principal of the school is captured in the photo explaining how the school has transformed since my time and the many new communities it now serves.  Thankfully the LDA board agreed with me that day about the importance for those young adults of seeing the type of transformation I was proposing in the lands near Colbert station. I knew these lands intimately as I crossed then weekly as a school kid to go to afternoon sports in Rathbane.  After our tour around Ballinacurra Weston, Southhill and another very helpful dinner engagement that evening with local NGOs and community groups, I was delighted to announcement that the LDA board agreed to support very significant investment in Limerick. Read more:- LDA allocates funds to master-plan Colbert Station lands  

Limerick is engrained in me.  It has captured my heart.  I love the place.  Those of us from Limerick know it is a unique place; it always has been. The people are special, a genuine community, and it has incredible history and traditions.  I like many others, take immense pride in being a Limerick native. I will never apologise for my unwavering ambition for Limerick. And, I will never tire of advocating and working to improve Limerick; it’s my home.  

But growing up I had limited professional opportunity available in Limerick.  As a result, I have studied and worked all across the globe - Dublin, Philadelphia, New York, Sydney, London, Paris, Tokyo and elsewhere. For many of those years, I never expected to be able to live back in Limerick and certainly never imagined I would be considering running for political office here.

My return to Limerick in 2014 was, most of all, a time to help with Dad’s remaining years battling Parkinson’s and spend some special moments with him. The rallying of our community of friends in Limerick to support our family at that time and again recently while I successfully battled my own cancer have only reinforced in me that the decision to choose Georgian Limerick as our future home is the right one. 

Above all, this decision is right because Limerick has transformed into a multicultural city with notable economic prosperity, a far cry from the place I grew up in. My pride in Limerick's success, especially during sports events, is immense, but my most poignant and heartfelt moment was being welcomed home to receive the President's Award at the Limerick Chamber dinner with my partner Damien in ways I had never believed possible when I left years before.  

We now can live our lives fully and openly in a tolerant and inviting Limerick.

But my delight in being home and my natural positivity towards all that is Limerick is tempered by what I see all around me.  The poor state of our services, our built environment and the public realm are our reality.  You cannot be blind to the dereliction across our city and rural villages and towns.  The lack of sufficient opportunity and of course affordable housing for all of the young adults graduating from our schools and third level colleges.  Once more, new generations are forced like me to leave - even if only as far as Dublin or Cork rather than needing to be London or Philadelphia.  It still means the grandchildren will grow up zoom calls awal from grandparents, it still means multiple youth teams in Dublin GAA clubs while many of ours suffer to field a single team. 

From a young age, my parents instilled in me and my siblings, the ambition to strive to be the best we can be. When I look at Limerick, despite the progress, it is still underachieving its potential.  I can't help but see communities still left behind and the untapped potential within our region, encompassing our city, towns, villages and unspoilt natural countryside. 

I am now convinced it is not Limerick's fault, it is how we are governed and the politics which controls us.

While I worked at the heart of our government in Dublin during the troika years, I admit I under appreciated the centralisation of decision making in Ireland.  No one was pointing out to me that Ireland was by far one of the most centralised governments in the EU and that this was not healthy for democracy in our country. 

Campaigning for Limerick since, debating its future at the Limerick Economic Forum and how to achieve that, and watching closely how the Dublin centric government struggled with the housing crisis born our of Ireland's recent economic success and population growth, each reinforced in me the need to bring decision making closer to the people it affected.

Campaigning myself and watching others locally campaign for change locally in Limerick also exposed to me how poor or record in local government is for transparency, for delivery and for listening to the concerns of residents of or city and county.

Yet on my travels, I have seen regions with a lot less than Limerick has to offer thrive in ways we can only imagine.  At the heart of those successes is a local government, strong on ambition and delivery - and often a locally elected mayor with a strong mandate to deliver.

This is all what drives me to still actively support the project we passionately advocated for in 2019 – an executive directly elected mayor for Limerick.  My original reasons which have not much changed over the five years can be found here:- Why should I not have the right to vote for whom i want?   

My dedication to this cause extends beyond personal aspirations; I envision the upcoming DEM election to become a crucial catalyst for the transformative change we so badly need, earnestly desire and rightfully deserve to see in Limerick. And who would not want that for the place they love to call home.

Truly I believe the best is yet to come.