Verbally abusive manic Mayor?

Raiser

All thanks to the wisdom of the lowbrow might of Fine Gael combined with The Green Party, sorry, Labour coming together in a voting pact it seems.

The mind boggles.

Link to 'rigged' 'controlled' election story.

Link to newspaper account of respected rugby referee George Clancy being chased, intimidated and verbally abused in the worst possible manner by our magnificent new Mayor, can't wait to see how he gets on

FFS - As if Limerick couldn't get any worse.

* The above sentiment constitutes my own opinion based on accounts of the past form and behaviour of this individual as published in the national media.

Kess73

Raiser wrote: »

All thanks to the wisdom of the lowbrow might of Fine Gael combined with The Green Party, sorry, Labour coming together in a voting pact it seems.

The mind boggles.

Link to 'rigged' 'controlled' election story.

Link to newspaper account of respected rugby referee George Clancy being chased, intimidated and verbally abused in the worst possible manner by our magnificent new Mayor, can't wait to see how he gets on

FFS - As if Limerick couldn't get any worse.

* The above sentiment constitutes my own opinion based on accounts of the past form and behaviour of this individual as published in the national media.

Could have been worse, it could have been a mayor who claimed travel expenses for a car that was not even on the road, and when he was caught he claimed it was a mistake. Then it came out that he had been claiming expenses for the same non car from other sources as well. So not only did a man who was claiming expenses that he should not have been managed to keep his high paying job, he was actually in the running for the role of mayor.

The role of mayor is nothing more than a joke position now, albeit a joke position that sees a fat cat get even fatter. The various political cartels that make deals to decide years in advance as to which of their cronies get to be mayor are sickening tbh.

HattieMcDoogal

The sooner we get a directly elected mayor the better. Did I read somewhere that that'll be brought in the next few years?

Edited to add: Found it! 2014 is the year pencilled in for a directly elected mayor.

jonski

I saw it in the papers this morning and thought to myself , he taught me in school and I never thought he would amount to anything .

JerryHandbag

He also referred to us country folk as "bumpkins" :mad:

zulutango

HattieMcDoogal wrote: »

The sooner we get a directly elected mayor the better. Did I read somewhere that that'll be brought in the next few years?

Edited to add: Found it! 2014 is the year pencilled in for a directly elected mayor.

How do you know that the poeple of Limerick wouldn't vote in an even worse gob****e if we had a directly elected mayor? The likes of Kiely and Long were all put there by the electorate of Limerick.

HattieMcDoogal

zulutango wrote: »

How do you know that the poeple of Limerick wouldn't vote in an even worse gob****e if we had a directly elected mayor? The likes of Kiely and Long were all put there by the electorate of Limerick.

True, that could happen but at least with a directly elected mayor the whole city would get a say. Kiely and Long were elected by people in their wards and not the entire city. I'm by no means saying anything bad about the voters in those wards, I don't even know which wards they represent tbh.

Having said that I am in our new mayors ward and didn't vote for him in the last local election :-)

europa11

Only 300 or so voted for Long, however and at times our S.T.V. system can f*ck up and in this case it saw Jimbo gain enough transfers to make City Hall.

(luckily for us, look at all those jobs he brought to the city after his two trips to Chineeland! )

After that it became the usual carve up with the "club" doing what they always do....give each other the plum job and very handy pay packet for a year of playing mayor.

One would hope that a directly elected mayor would at least throw up a better calibre of candidate, preferably from outside the political mainstream and far away from the Kiely/Long/Kennedy/Leddin/Locky et al shower.

Ed Walsh maybe (just a first thought there, feel free to "nominate" others)

ZombieBride

What does the mayor actually have power to do? or is it just another overpaid figure head that we don't really need?

Cookiemunster

ZombieBride wrote: »

What does the mayor actually have power to do? or is it just another overpaid figure head that we don't really need?

Yes, currently that's exactly what the mayor is. The only difference between the mayor and a councillor is that the mayor chairs the council meetings, gets his picture taken a lot and gets a larger salary. The city manager is the person who really runs the city and is the only one with executive powers. He has the ability to suspend or disolve the council and run the city directly himself.
AFAIK when we get a directly elected mayor then the mayoral role will take some of those executive powers from the manager.

kilburn

And his first priority is to secure Munster's training ground in Limerick, so the rugby player puts rugby as his priority, nothing about local business, antisocial behaviour, opera centre.
Would it be too much to ask for our wheeler dealer local politicians to actually come up with a plan to help the city when they know a few years in advance they are going to be mayor
http://www.live95fm.ie/news/news-item/limerick-mayor-wants-munster-training-ground-in-limerick/e552b2fd-efb4-4299-b5cb-675e0b69d51d

Jofspring

Not only that but he was one of the ones sticking his nose in about the re development of the markets field. Can see him making life difficult for limerick fc but hope I'm wrong.

Munster Rugby training in Limerick should be none of his business in my opinion and it seems like he just thinks it will get on people's good side for some reason.

Amazotheamazing

kilburn wrote: »

And his first priority is to secure Munster's training ground in Limerick, so the rugby player puts rugby as his priority, nothing about local business, antisocial behaviour, opera centre.
Would it be too much to ask for our wheeler dealer local politicians to actually come up with a plan to help the city when they know a few years in advance they are going to be mayor
http://www.live95fm.ie/news/news-item/limerick-mayor-wants-munster-training-ground-in-limerick/e552b2fd-efb4-4299-b5cb-675e0b69d51d

That priority is better and more realistic than at least half the stuff previous mayors have targeted.

Don't know the full story about the Markets Field, what's the latest?

Jofspring

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

That priority is better and more realistic than at least half the stuff previous mayors have targeted.

Don't know the full story about the Markets Field, what's the latest?

Just that certain councillors have said they will make life difficult for Limerick if they do not get let in on the plans and that a community centre should be built by Limerick FC for the people of Garryowen. Basically the usual heads sticking their noses in were it doesn't belong to try get their faces in the paper. Hopefully they get told where to go so the project can get a move on.

Kess73

kilburn wrote: »

And his first priority is to secure Munster's training ground in Limerick, so the rugby player puts rugby as his priority, nothing about local business, antisocial behaviour, opera centre.
Would it be too much to ask for our wheeler dealer local politicians to actually come up with a plan to help the city when they know a few years in advance they are going to be mayor
http://www.live95fm.ie/news/news-item/limerick-mayor-wants-munster-training-ground-in-limerick/e552b2fd-efb4-4299-b5cb-675e0b69d51d

Yes it would be too much to ask. Unfortunately.

Amazotheamazing

Jofspring wrote: »

Just that certain councillors have said they will make life difficult for Limerick if they do not get let in on the plans and that a community centre should be built by Limerick FC for the people of Garryowen. Basically the usual heads sticking their noses in were it doesn't belong to try get their faces in the paper. Hopefully they get told where to go so the project can get a move on.

What's wrong with a community centre?

Thought JP was keeping ownership anyhow, with Limerick FC given a lease?

Insect Overlord

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

What's wrong with a community centre?

Why should Limerick FC have to pay to build one?

jbkenn

Insect Overlord wrote: »

Why should Limerick FC have to pay to build one?

Cos the goodly people of Garryowen are "entitled" thas why, right, if the folks in Garryowen want a Community Centre, here's a suggestion, raise the money yourselves, otherwise, STF up

Jofspring

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

What's wrong with a community centre?

Thought JP was keeping ownership anyhow, with Limerick FC given a lease?

The LEDP will own it so it is kept in trust and can't be sold off or re-morgated by the club or anyone else, which is the best way to have it in my eyes. On paper it will be leased to Limerick FC but basically it is theirs to use as well as other sporting codes if needs be.

No reason a football club should be building a public amenity like that when its the council/goverments job. Its like asking Munster RFC to build the people of Ballynanty a community centre or similar.

Limerick have stated before though that they would allow the Markets Field to be used as a community centre for the locals.

Jofspring

jbkenn wrote: »

Cos the goodly people of Garryowen are "entitled" thas why, right, if the folks in Garryowen want a Community Centre, here's a suggestion, raise the money yourselves, otherwise, STF up

Funny thing here is it seems the people of Garryowen want the council to build them a local centre but the council think they see an opportunity to pawn it off on Limerick FC instead of doing their own jobs. The people of Garryowen (as of yet) haven't actually demanded anything of Limerick FC.

jbkenn

Raiser wrote: »

All thanks to the wisdom of the lowbrow might of Fine Gael combined with The Green Party, sorry, Labour coming together in a voting pact it seems.

The mind boggles.

Link to 'rigged' 'controlled' election story.

Link to newspaper account of respected rugby referee George Clancy being chased, intimidated and verbally abused in the worst possible manner by our magnificent new Mayor, can't wait to see how he gets on

FFS - As if Limerick couldn't get any worse.

* The above sentiment constitutes my own opinion based on accounts of the past form and behaviour of this individual as published in the national media.

Jesus wept, and we thought we could'nt get a bigger gob****e than Jim Il Long, we did'nt call him the "bungalow" at school without good reason, how much will it cost us to send him to the Willie Clancy summer school this year?.
I give up...

Amazotheamazing

Insect Overlord wrote: »

Why should Limerick FC have to pay to build one?

What are Limerick FC actually paying for? Who's financing the rebuild? Will there be grant money? Etc.

Can't see how any LOI team could afford to rebuild a stadium going on their gate receipts and sponsorship, let alone one who struggle to sell out Jackman park.

I'd love to see the Markets Field rebuilt as a multisport arena, athletics track etc. There should be space there for it. Personally, I'd prefer that to having the pitch moved and a community centre built but I can understand people wanting some debate as to what is the best use of the facility for the city, not simply the use that suits Limerick FC the best.

osarusan

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

but I can understand people wanting some debate as to what is the best use of the facility for the city, not simply the use that suits Limerick FC the best.

The only debate on the issue should come from the group(s) paying for it.

Only those financially contributing towards it should have any say in what facilities should be there.

I don't have any idea on whether grant money will be available.

Jofspring

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

What are Limerick FC actually paying for? Who's financing the rebuild? Will there be grant money? Etc.

Can't see how any LOI team could afford to rebuild a stadium going on their gate receipts and sponsorship, let alone one who struggle to sell out Jackman park.

I'd love to see the Markets Field rebuilt as a multisport arena, athletics track etc. There should be space there for it. Personally, I'd prefer that to having the pitch moved and a community centre built but I can understand people wanting some debate as to what is the best use of the facility for the city, not simply the use that suits Limerick FC the best.

Pat O Sullivan(Limerick FC owner) and JP McManus to the best of everyone's knowledge are the ones paying for the redevelopment. Don't know about grant money but there hasn't been any mention anywhere about grants. It will be a multisport venue just not for athletics. Personally I hate football/rugby grounds with running tracks around them.

The best use for the facility will be primarily a football ground as the city doesn't have a proper football venue. We have a rugby stadium, GAA stadium and athletic facilities in UL but the only main football ground in Limerick is Jackman Park. We are the only major city in Ireland without a a decent home for football i.e Tallaght Stadium (Dublin), RSC (Waterford), Turners Cross (Cork), Terryland Park (Galway), Showgrounds (Sligo) and even some smaller towns like Athlone Town Stadium and Flancare Park (Longford) have decent grounds.

Amazotheamazing

osarusan wrote: »

The only debate on the issue should come from the group(s) paying for it.

Only those financially contributing towards it should have any say in what facilities should be there.

I don't have any idea on whether grant money will be available.

Not really, the planning process is designed to take in feedback from locals, interested parties etc.

If we left all planning up to those who were paying for it we'd have no need for any planning controls at all.

Jofspring

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

Not really, the planning process is designed to take in feedback from locals, interested parties etc.

If we left all planning up to those who were paying for it we'd have no need for any planning controls at all.

At the same time though locals etc... Had no say in the redevelopment of the Gaelic Grounds or Thomond Pak so don't see why this situation should be different.

Amazotheamazing

Jofspring wrote: »

Pat O Sullivan(Limerick FC owner) and JP McManus to the best of everyone's knowledge are the ones paying for the redevelopment. Don't know about grant money but there hasn't been any mention anywhere about grants. It will be a multisport venue just not for athletics. Personally I hate football/rugby grounds with running tracks around them.

The best use for the facility will be primarily a football ground as the city doesn't have a proper football venue. We have a rugby stadium, GAA stadium and athletic facilities in UL but the only main football ground in Limerick is Jackman Park. We are the only major city in Ireland without a a decent home for football i.e Tallaght Stadium (Dublin), RSC (Waterford), Turners Cross (Cork), Terryland Park (Galway), Showgrounds (Sligo) and even some smaller towns like Athlone Town Stadium and Flancare Park (Longford) have decent grounds.

You could easily argue there's not enough athletics stadia in Ireland at all. How many cities, let alone towns, have proper tracks within stadia? Would there be the potential to move national champs to Limerick if we built one etc? Whereas football could easily be played in Thomond if the figures justified it. Is there any real difference between a rugby stadium and a football one? And without athletics facilities, is it really a multisport stadium?

I've no huge interest either way, I'd just like to see the facility maximised. The chance of building a city centre stadium that has athletic facilities appeals to me because we're unlikely to get the chance again but it's hardly something I'd go out and campaign for.

I'd like to see Limerick FC back in the Markets Field, fwiw, sooner rather than later.

Amazotheamazing

Jofspring wrote: »

At the same time though locals etc... Had no say in the redevelopment of the Gaelic Grounds or Thomond Pak so don't see why this situation should be different.

Locals lodged planning objections to both, iirc. And the council were consulted in relation to Thomond, removing the banana block etc.

Jofspring

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

Locals lodged planning objections to both, iirc. And the council were consulted in relation to Thomond, removing the banana block etc.

That was when they were actually knocking structures to make way for a bigger stadium, the markets field would be built within its current area were as thomond park was expanding. The objections had nothing to do with what the use for the stadium would be. I love right between both stadiums and never once heard of any input from locals on what the two stadiums shoul be used for.

I think if athletics etc... were to be considered for the markets field then the athletics board and or government would have to come up with substantial grants and investment in the ground which to this point hasn't happened.

Amazotheamazing

Jofspring wrote: »

That was when they were actually knocking structures to make way for a bigger stadium, the markets field would be built within its current area were as thomond park was expanding. The objections had nothing to do with what the use for the stadium would be. I love right between both stadiums and never once heard of any input from locals on what the two stadiums shoul be used for.

I think if athletics etc... were to be considered for the markets field then the athletics board and or government would have to come up with substantial grants and investment in the ground which to this point hasn't happened.

There's planning restrictions on both, brought in by locals. The Gaelic grounds can't hold concerts and Thomond had to deal with an objection from a Mr. Kiely at hassett's cross. Afaik, TP is restricted to something like 3 concerts a year, but howandever, we have a planning process that allows people raise concerns and general large scale developments are reached after a consultation process.

I agree wrt to the athletics funding, but then, we don't know who's funding what or what they are funding yet. I'm sure most hardcore fans wouldn't want a track, but for the city, how great would it be to have an athletics capable stadium pretty much in the city centre? The point being it should be a facility that works best for the entire city, not just one sport.

zulutango

osarusan wrote: »

The only debate on the issue should come from the group(s) paying for it.

Only those financially contributing towards it should have any say in what facilities should be there.

That is absolute bollox. As with any development anywhere in the world, ALL the stakeholders should be involved in the debate and ultimately the decision as to what goes there. The stakeholders include the local residents, the council and others, as well as the developers.

Jofspring

I think concerts are different though as they are more of a disturbance with noise levels etc...were as what sports get played in a venue should be purely up to the people investing in the ground. Up to recently and before limerick secured the ground with JPs help limerick were basically left to themselves to secure the move back with no help. Just seems like people (politicans mainly) are jumping on board now and without financial backing should be told were to go.

Amazotheamazing

Jofspring wrote: »

I think concerts are different though as they are more of a disturbance with noise levels etc...were as what sports get played in a venue should be purely up to the people investing in the ground. Up to recently and before limerick secured the ground with JPs help limerick were basically left to themselves to secure the move back with no help. Just seems like people (politicans mainly) are jumping on board now and without financial backing should be told were to go.

Depends, you'd think there's more votes in getting Limerick FC back in there than objecting but you never know.

Ultimately it comes down to funding, JP isn't going to be forced to do something he doesn't want to do, whether it's a community centre, athletics track or velodrome but if Government money is being used it should be a stadium for everyone, not just football and rugby (since the pitch will probably be too small for GAA games).

Kess73

Did anyone else think of the C64 game "Manic Miner" when they first saw the thread title?

osarusan

zulutango wrote: »

That is absolute bollox. As with any development anywhere in the world, ALL the stakeholders should be involved in the debate and ultimately the decision as to what goes there. The stakeholders include the local residents, the council and others, as well as the developers.

There is a world of a difference between objections or debate based on issues such as crowd congestion, noise, traffic problems, size of the building etc, and a local councillor saying (on behalf of a community?) that he'll make trouble for the investors if they don't do what he wants.

Objections to a proposed building don't extend to the power to base an objection on the fact a plan doesn't contain all the facilities everybody would like.

As mentioned, if public money is involved, things take on a different perspective.

Persiancowboy

jbkenn wrote: »

Jesus wept, and we thought we could'nt get a bigger gob****e than Jim Il Long, we did'nt call him the "bungalow" at school without good reason, how much will it cost us to send him to the Willie Clancy summer school this year?.
I give up...

You're wrong there mate.....the "Bungalow" was his brother Mick (and his other brother Pat was the "Basement"). Ginger taught me commerce in Sexton's St. - he could hardly string a single coherent sentence of English together back then and I reckon nothing much has changed in the interim. Long before the current recession started to hurt the pub trade, he managed to get into serious financial difficulties runnning the "Triple Crown" pub in Limerick (this from a guy who studied business to qualify as a secondary teacher). Just the sort of first citizen the city needs!!!

As for the suggestion from some posters that we should have directly-elected mayors let me say one name: Councilor Mikey Kelly......remember him? Scumbag and criminal and also elected to the city council by the good citizens of Limerick....

Delphi91

Persiancowboy wrote: »

...Councilor Mikey Kelly......remember him? Scumbag and criminal and also elected to the city council by the good citizens of Limerick....

Probably 'cos he got things done ;)

europa11

Persiancowboy wrote: »

........As for the suggestion from some posters that we should have directly-elected mayors let me say one name: Councilor Mikey Kelly......remember him? Scumbag and criminal and also elected to the city council by the good citizens of Limerick....

I hear your concern there, but although that "campaign" involved supporters of that soon-to-be-Alderman sitting menacingly on the wall outside the O'Mallley Park polling station, gently reminding voters that their presence was being noted -a shameful incident for sure - hard to see such a scenario replicated city-wide by any possible successor of that vein........even vein dumdum

But if the good citizens of Southill felt intimidated or not by the Kellys', neither were they feeling positive about the lazy-arsed established politicians who created the crowded, badly planned disastrous schemes that encompassed Southill (and laterallly Moyross) rather than seek a city boundary extension and build separated, modestly sized housing estates. So, understandable too if they preferred a real "local boy" crook to people who, at best, held the populace with contempt. Hobsons' choice and all that.

Also, the current system of Mayoral Election surely lends itself to seeing a "scumbag" councillor being elected first citizen. Far easier to have a word in the ears of a few frightened councillors than face an electorate of (when city and county unite) some 100,000 people.

Finally, and to the best of my knowledge, it's not a 'suggestion by posters' here that we have a directly elected mayor but rather that it will be happening in 2014 following change to the relevant Local Government Acts. Must check that out but I'm pretty certain of it.

adaminho

jbkenn wrote: »

Cos the goodly people of Garryowen are "entitled" thas why, right, if the folks in Garryowen want a Community Centre, here's a suggestion, raise the money yourselves, otherwise, STF up

Jbkenn I'm a resident of Garryowen all my life, first in St.Laurences park and now Rossa avenue. The only person from Garryowen that demanded a community centre is a certain mayor! He thinks it's more important that Munster should have a training base in Limerick than people in his own ward should have one! I don't know where you live in the city but I can guarantee you have a community centre , do you know why? Cause Garryowen is the only one without one!

Do I want a community centre, hell yes! Should Limerick F.C. Have to pay for it? No.

Jofspring

I agree with most of what your are saying adaminho but I live on the Ennis road side of town and there is no community centre that I am aware of for Mayorstone, Clareview, North Circular Road, Ashbrook, Clonmacken or any of the houses on the main Ennis road. Not sure about other parts of the city. Caherdavin has one but that is well into Caherdavin and is only useful for the people of that area.

seachto7

Delphi91 wrote: »

Probably 'cos he got things done ;)

Yeah, vote for me or else!

celticcrash

Mikey Kelly was a bit innocent when he was elected, he taught that the other councillors were dignitries,people with high morals and ethics.
Soon after Mikey realised that only a couple of councillors had any ethics and that most were corrupt to the bone.
This was a new breed of criminal to Mikey. This new breed had no morals, these new breed were not ordinary decent criminals.
Mikey meet real greed. Mikey meet not the hard up criminal who was trying to survive but people who had it good and would step on one another just to get ahead. Mikey for the first time in his life met real corruption.
This is part of what drove him to depression and what drove him to kill himself. Please no assh*le questions.

Persiancowboy

celticcrash wrote: »

Mikey Kelly was a bit innocent when he was elected, he taught that the other councillors were dignitries,people with high morals and ethics.
Soon after Mikey realised that only a couple of councillors had any ethics and that most were corrupt to the bone.
This was a new breed of criminal to Mikey. This new breed had no morals, these new breed were not ordinary decent criminals.
Mikey meet real greed. Mikey meet not the hard up criminal who was trying to survive but people who had it good and would step on one another just to get ahead. Mikey for the first time in his life met real corruption.
This is part of what drove him to depression and what drove him to kill himself. Please no assh*le questions.

Jesus.......is that you Anthony?:eek:

geotrig

Raiser wrote: »

All thanks to the wisdom of the lowbrow might of Fine Gael combined with The Green Party, sorry, Labour coming together in a voting pact it seems.

The mind boggles.

Link to 'rigged' 'controlled' election story.

Link to newspaper account of respected rugby referee George Clancy being chased, intimidated and verbally abused in the worst possible manner by our magnificent new Mayor, can't wait to see how he gets on

FFS - As if Limerick couldn't get any worse.

* The above sentiment constitutes my own opinion based on accounts of the past form and behaviour of this individual as published in the national media.

Persiancowboy wrote: »

You're wrong there mate.....the "Bungalow" was his brother Mick (and his other brother Pat was the "Basement"). Ginger taught me commerce in Sexton's St. - he could hardly string a single coherent sentence of English together back then and I reckon nothing much has changed in the interim. Long before the current recession started to hurt the pub trade, he managed to get into serious financial difficulties runnning the "Triple Crown" pub in Limerick (this from a guy who studied business to qualify as a secondary teacher). Just the sort of first citizen the city needs!!!

As for the suggestion from some posters that we should have directly-elected mayors let me say one name: Councilor Mikey Kelly......remember him? Scumbag and criminal and also elected to the city council by the good citizens of Limerick....

jesus i' only saw in the paper that he was elected mayor and couldnt believe it i thought it was bad enough when he got elected locally .

things like this get you worried whats in store for the city over time and batters any faith you may have had in politics :rolleyes:

they really would want to start putting some restrictions "guide lines" on who can run for local and general elections

Kess73

celticcrash wrote: »

Mikey Kelly was a bit innocent when he was elected, he taught that the other councillors were dignitries,people with high morals and ethics.
Soon after Mikey realised that only a couple of councillors had any ethics and that most were corrupt to the bone.
This was a new breed of criminal to Mikey. This new breed had no morals, these new breed were not ordinary decent criminals.
Mikey meet real greed. Mikey meet not the hard up criminal who was trying to survive but people who had it good and would step on one another just to get ahead. Mikey for the first time in his life met real corruption.
This is part of what drove him to depression and what drove him to kill himself. Please no assh*le questions.

How can there be such thing as a decent criminal? A decent person is someone who does not commit criminal acts.

No such thing as a decent criminal.

celticcrash

Kess73 wrote: »

How can there be such thing as a decent criminal? A decent person is someone who does not commit criminal acts.

No such thing as a decent criminal.

You are right Kess, there is really no such thing as an ordinary decent criminal. I just put it in for contrast sake.

grenache

I'm only seeing now for the first time that they elected Ginger "I hate people from the county" McLoughlin. Hard to know whether to laugh or cry, the people of the city deserve better than this bigot. An immensely backward step.

zulutango

grenache wrote: »

I'm only seeing now for the first time that they elected Ginger "I hate people from the county" McLoughlin. Hard to know whether to laugh or cry, the people of the city deserve better than this bigot. An immensely backward step.

I don't think he's a bigot. That comment was a silly, off the cuff remark but it wasn't bigotry. Certainly, the last few Fine Gael mayors were far, far worse.

flutered

grenache wrote: »

I'm only seeing now for the first time that they elected Ginger "I hate people from the county" McLoughlin. Hard to know whether to laugh or cry, the people of the city deserve better than this bigot. An immensely backward step.

did he not have a girlfriend from galbaly, now thats as far out in the country as one can travel.

leakyboots

http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/local/mayor-of-limerick-wants-polish-street-signs-1-4011509?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

N A bid to make non-Irish nationals feel more at home, Mayor Gerry McLoughlin wants to see the city’s street signs in Polish - and “African”.

At present, all street signs across Ireland are displayed in English, then Irish.

But the new mayor wants to see Limerick go a step further - and embrace its sizeable population from Europe and Africa by including further translations.

“I am passionate about bringing everyone together. I was an immigrant myself: I have family abroad still in Wales and Australia so I understand what it is like. We have thousands of Poles and other foreign nationals here,” he explained, “I would like to see some Polish and African signs going up,” he said in an interview with the Limerick Leader.

Polish translations for some of the city centre streets include Ulica O’Connell (O’Connell Street), Ulica Re jsy (Cruises Street) and Półksiezyc (The Crescent).

It would not be the first time the Polish language has been thought of as official signage in Ireland: in 2006, Laois County Council sought to include Polish on road signs to reduce the number of fatalities.

But it would be the first time signs in an urbanised area would be translated.

Magdalena Kakol, who comes from near Gdansk, welcomed the idea.

“One of my friends has been living here for more than one year and she still has a problem with the street signs. So I think this would be really good for us. It would also help a lot of tourists: my sister is coming here for two weeks later this summer, so I can ask her to meet me in different places, and she will understand,” said Magdalena, who works in Spar, Catherine Street.

In addition to this, Mayor McLoughlin also wants to see a forum for non-nationals.

“We have a lot to learn from them. They are also citizens of our city, so let’s embrace them. They came here as asylum seekers, they are now part of Limerick,” he said.

City manager Kieran Lehane said any change in Limerick’s street signs would need to come in the form of a motion to the council’s transportation and infrastructure meeting.

It would then be investigated by the city council’s roads department.

Chairman of the transport committee, Cllr Ger Fahy cautiously welcomed the idea.

He said: “In principle, I think we should look at issues which promote the city from a national and European point of view. We do have a sizeable population of Polish people, and this should be taken into consideration. But before any decision is made, we have to look at the wider situation: if we agree to extend our signs to different language, we have to ensure it does not get out of hand.”

Mc Love

More brainless mumblings! I think it would be a waste of resources. Must people speak English and signs are english and Irish, so I dont see where the problem lies!