Mayoral candidate pledges to push for free public transport in Limerick

Ruairi Fahy, flanked by People Before Profit TD and former socialist mayor Joe Harrington at his election launch

placeholder image — Ruairi Fahy, flanked by People Before Profit TD and former socialist mayor Joe Harrington at his election launch

Ruairi Fahy launches campaign at Docker's Monument in the city centre

A CANDIDATE to become the first directly elected mayor of Limerick has pledged to push for free public transport across the city and county.

Ruairi Fahy, of People Before Profit, was one of the first to declare that he was to seek election to become the first executive mayor of Limerick, as well as a council seat on the city's northside.

He launched his campaign at the Docker's Monument in the city centre in the presence of party TD Paul Murphy, its European candidate and former local councillor Cian Prendiville, and Joe Harrington, a former mayor of Limerick.

Outlining his 16-page manifesto, Mr Fahy pointed out that in other cities across the world, private vehicle usage had dropped significantly as free public transport was introduced.

"We have seen in places like Montpellier [in France] when they brought it in, it tripled the number of people using the buses and trams and 10% of people got rid of their car altogether," he said.

Mr Fahy said his goal chimes in with the council's own stated aim to reduce the number of cars in the city by half between now and 2030.

"We want Limerick to become a pilot for free public transport. There is new money coming in with the mayor which can be used as a way to see what impact this could have on a city. That's worth going for," he said.

Elsewhere, the mayoral candidate also wants Limerick to lead the way when it comes to universal social housing.

"We have a limited stock of public land, and if we are giving more and more of it to developers, we will never be able to solve the housing crisis," he said.

Mr Fahy said many people are being locked out of social housing, yet do not have enough of an income to qualify for a mortgage.

"It's a political choice to not have a State-led developer leading the development of homes. We need to have the same system across the board regardless of what you earn, the same percentage of income goes towards paying for those homes. In the cases across the world where this has been implemented, it is self-funding," he added.

The candidate also called for Limerick to be a living wage city, saying: "Families are being crushed under rising rents, people are barely able to put food on the table for their kids. They are cutting back on food for themselves. They are embarrassed they cannot bring their children for a day out at the weekend. These are things we need to push back against."

Mr Murphy said if Mr Fahy becomes Limerick's first directly elected mayor, it would send a "shockwave to the political establishment across the country about what kind of cities people want to live in, what kind of country people want to live in."