Limerick councillor and barrister was victim of ‘intense bullying’
POLL-TOPPING councillor Emmett O’Brien has revealed he was the victim of “intense bullying” during his decade on the local authority.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Limerick Leader this week, the barrister also said he will not contest the next local election.
“It does take its toll. I’m not one of those politicians who goes on Twitter and plays the self-pity card. Unfortunately I’ve been the subject of fairly intense bullying over the last six or seven years.”
The Pallaskenry man’s decision to step away from representative politics comes against the backdrop of the election of Limerick’s first directly elected mayor, due to take place in June.
He said he believes this is a “disaster waiting to happen” and ruled himself out of contesting the election for the job early on.
“I looked at the briefing document (for the role) and I knew that we will have a hamstrung mayor with no power.
“To all intents and purposes, it’s literally a celebrity candidate.”
He believes the role represents a “sop” from a government which has gradually removed powers away from local authority members over the years.
He continued: “We’re going to have some crazy, celebrity socialist candidate making a show of us on an international basis. Really and truly, it’s a disaster waiting to happen.”
“Are we going to have sporting candidates? Are we going to have TikTok candidates? It’s a big responsibility. Limerick is a very proud city and county, a very ancient city. It deserves to be represented well. I think it’s been represented poorly for a very long time across the board. We need a strong person with a strong vision who could give Limerick what it rightly deserves,” said Cllr O’Brien.
He said Limerick’s first ever executive mayor should be “a Donogh O’Malley-type figure.”
The late Mr O’Malley, a Limerick TD, was the education minister famous for introducing free secondary school education to Irish children.
The political departure of Cllr O’Brien - who also contested the 2016 general election - throws the contest for the Adare-Rathkeale district wide open.
It comes with another councillor from the district Kevin Sheahan, a former mayor, retiring.