Dual Mayors for Limerick

limklad

I do not know if many of you heard there are going to be two Mayors for Limerick.

This will be the confusing bit
There will be an overall Mayor for Limerick City and County.
The traditional Limerick City Mayor will be Mayor of the Metropolitan District.
The current title of Cathaoirleach, which has existed since 1899, has now been ushered to the annals of the history books.
A motion to consider changing the title of Cathaoirleach to Mayor of Limerick City and County was passed by 23 votes to 12 at County Hall in Dooradoyle on Monday evening using legislation from the Local Government Act, 2001.

http://www.limerickpost.ie/2014/11/27/two-mayors-for-limerick/
http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/community/limerick-now-has-two-mayors-after-council-vote-1-6436992
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/limerick-votes-to-create-dual-mayor-council-system-299387.html
http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/business/business-news/utter-confusion-over-limerick-s-two-mayors-1-6442863

So will all the confusion. and Cllr Sheahan request for the Public Consultation. Since both now Mayors in the Job are both Sheehans.

Limerick Leader wrote:

If the suit fits....: City menswear retailer Tony Connolly has traditionally provided a suit to the first citizen. But he was left seeing double this week, as the two Mayor Sheahans Kevin and Michael both turned up for a fitting! Picture: Mike Cowhey

Current Duo I do not beleive will advertise Limerick very well. I Hope they do not go down the Gerry Flannerys Route of Advertising in which he said.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/romanians-behind-city-vice-racket-29525709.html
Former international rugby player Jerry Flannery, who runs a pub in the area, also made headlines after he suggested that if Irish men washed more regularly and dressed better they may not have to pay for sex.

Someone made a attempt here with Gerry Flannerys advertising did not go down too well.


http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/local-news/limerick-signs-changed-to-read-red-light-district-1-5406150
http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/romanians-behind-city-vice-racket-29525709.html

I decide to do my bit for democracy, and nominate the Rubberbandits for both Jobs as Majors for to bring more attention and free advertising for Limerick. Since both Jobs do not have any real power and it a job to promote Limerick. The rubberbandits be great to act as a team together for Limerick and they certainty proven that they do not shy away from controversy. They certaintly know how to use the dictionary... Irony..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYgZFm43ZN4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4y_24liaq0

With Over 1 millions views of advertising of Limerick. I will need a second nomination so the Campaign can begin for election of Mayors in 4 years time. They cannot be any worst than the current crop of politicians who are under performing and wasting tax payers money.

IsaacWunder

Apparently the councillors voted for the change to reduce confusion. They've done the exact opposite.

The old setup made perfect sense: the Lord Mayor was a traditional title bestowed on the chairperson of a city council, whereas cathaoirleach was the chairperson of a county council.

With the merging of the two councils the Mayor of Limerick should have been the chairperson of the new joint authority (no need for ancient titles like lord) and the chairperson of the city municipal district should have been called the chair of that district: the same as every other council district.

But instead the chairperson of the city and county council is the Mayor of the City and County of Limerick and the chairperson of the city district of the council is the Mayor of Limerick - a situation that is actually confusing.

Special Circumstances

So it's not like a tag team wrestling thing? Disappointing. I thought one could tag the other in so they could briefly combine their powers and pull some serious combo moves in times of dire need.

limklad

Special Circumstances wrote: »

So it's not like a tag team wrestling thing? Disappointing. I thought one could tag the other in so they could briefly combine their powers and pull some serious combo moves in times of dire need.

I though the idea of combining the councils would combine the upper levels too, like the county and city manager became one. I would have expected the council members be combined as well as the Mayor positions. In reality they reduce the council numbers on a token measure. Councillors have no real power. The council manager (CEO) have all of the power. Councilors can only pass bylaws and those laws and decisions by the council can be easily over turn by the council manager i.e the CEO of the council by simply going to the dept of the environment.

SpaceTime

The Duelling Mayors of Limerick ...

Now that would be cool!

the dark phantom

1 council, 2 mayors = dumb taxpayers

jbkenn

the dark phantom wrote: »

1 council, 2 mayors = dumb taxpayers

Too true, and to think these 40 pillocks will cost us €2,424,000 this year.

steveon

More pen-pushers more waste of money, more idiotic ideas and they wonder why people have had enough and are finally taking a stand against water charges...

Cookiemunster

the dark phantom wrote: »

1 council, 2 mayors = dumb taxpayers

In reality there's only one actual mayor though. That's the former Cathaoirleach of the city and county which is the only position with executive powers. The mayor of the metropolitan area is just a title with no executive powers. It's the same level as the chairmen of the 3 rural council areas.

squonk

Maybe it's a Captain Planety type thing. When their powers combine they sumon a superhero to sort out any nasty city problem in 20 minutes!

zulutango

The amalgamation seems to be a bit of a **** up, doesn't it? No surprise there given that Phil Hogan was involved, I guess.

I see the sense in having a regional authority covering the whole Midwest, and then having a urban authority representing the Limerick City metropolitan region.

Realistically, counties Limerick and Clare should have been amalgamated. Call it a different name, i.e. The Midwest Regional Authority, or somesuch, to protect sporting sensitivities, and the city should have been given a boundary extension to take in the suburbs.

Cookiemunster

zulutango wrote: »

The amalgamation seems to be a bit of a **** up, doesn't it? No surprise there given that Phil Hogan was involved, I guess.

I see the sense in having a regional authority covering the whole Midwest, and then having a urban authority representing the Limerick City metropolitan region.

Realistically, counties Limerick and Clare should have been amalgamated. Call it a different name, i.e. The Midwest Regional Authority, or somesuch, to protect sporting sensitivities, and the city should have been given a boundary extension to take in the suburbs.

Areas like Westbury and Shannon Banks should have been brought under the control of the city years ago as they are already defacto part of the city. But the minute it was mentioned the GAA BS started up. I agree thought that the smaller countries around the country should be amalgamated into regional authorities, but again the GAA BS would kick off if it was tried.

zulutango

I think the way to get around the GAA crap is to just give the regional authorities different names that aren't contentious. The GAA can continue to divide along the traditional Anglo-Norman lines if they wish.

stefanovich

steveon wrote: »

More pen-pushers more waste of money, more idiotic ideas and they wonder why people have had enough and are finally taking a stand against water charges...

Not sure how this relates to water charges!

washman3

the dark phantom wrote: »

1 council, 2 mayors = dumb taxpayers

= very dumb voters...;)

Silentcorner

You have to bear in mind the locally elected political figures are merely an expensive puppet show, politically impotent and devoid of policy....a lot like Senators...their only purpose is to cement the National Party infrastructure on the unsuspecting voter...

The farcical nature of this debacle is underlined by the fact that it is actually an improvement on what we had before...

I have to say the amalgamation and realignment of the local government infrastructure has had a been a largely positive impact, tourism is up, I have never seen as many FDI jobs from as many different sources as we are currently seeing, I also believe that the impact of LCOC has really given the city the spring back in its step, just my opinion.

I believe that the Dept of Environment did not go as far as they should have, but it is an improvement nonetheless...but I won't be happy until I see regional government with power and accountability and a motorway linking Waterford /Cork/Limk/Galway/Sligo.

limklad

SpaceTime wrote: »

The Duelling Mayors of Limerick ...

Now that would be cool!

There is currently two Sheahan Mayors in Limerick, hopefully they reconsidered and put one Mayor only in place and put the City Mayor over all of the council to continue the tradition of unbroken Mayorship of Limerick for a local propaganda and tourism and show that two positions was combined for a more powerful mayor to deal with more local problems that is similar to to improve services for more employments.

When I heard that they were going to amalgamate the city and county Councils. I though the City Mayor become Mayor of all Limerick and each council area will have a chairperson to bring issues to the CEO of the Council. I though that the new amalgamate council will just be "Limerick Council". Having "Limerick City and County Council" as the official name is plain stupid and over worded in my opinion.

What they put in place is far worst and bloated the amalgamated council. I though it be condensed further since local politicians have very little power or say in the new Councillor power structure, which has been diminished further since Independence, therefore we still have too many Councillors for the power that they have.

The CEO/city/county mangers have too much power for the council to be considered a bastion of local democracy. In reality, the Council elected officials are just a wallpaper, to cover the dictatorship of the main power house of the council. No wonder people go to TD's to deal with local issues such as potholes.

Also I love to get each Council meeting put up a opened channel on the Internet (rather than TV) for the public to see the standard of our elected officials, just like the Dail have camera and an internet channel, maybe youtube perhaps, where past meeting can be reviewed. Also the CEO could use it and advertise what they are doing locally for the people of Limerick. They do not need a zoom channel just static set of cameras with connections to the microphones in the chambers. This way people can see the sh*te and repeat Sh*te they come up with, so it can be held against them in the next local election. Also they will be mocked into increase their standard of oral and understanding of the issues and improve their representation of the people in chambers.

I also love to have the CEO/city/county mangers under more scrutiny and held more accountable to local Councillors.

P.S. I do not meant to degrade the CEO/city/county mangers work, for who the most part do a good job and it is restrained by law. The worst they can do is overspend on big projects like the water treatment scheme over the last 2 decade. It is still however a dictatorship installed by the National Government into local council power, like the appointment of the lord lieutenant of Ireland under British control of Ireland.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Lieutenant_of_Ireland

lockman

It gets even better:
http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/limerick-will-have-five-mayors-from-june-1-6666203

Special Circumstances

IsaacWunder

lockman wrote: »

It gets even better:
http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/limerick-will-have-five-mayors-from-june-1-6666203

April fool my arse. It'll be giving them notions.

Iranoutofideas

We should have only one mayor and they should be elected by the people.

40 people on the council is absurd and a gigantic waste of money.

Cut it down to 10 at the most. I'd be in favour of scrapping all the councils entirely to be honest. Have 4 regional councils instead.