Aontú member Sarah Beasley enters race for directly elected mayor

A NEW candidate has thrown her hat in the ring for Limerick’s directly elected mayor (DEM) - and says she will aim to tackle areas such as the homelessness crisis, the mental health crisis and provide “transparency” if elected.

Aontú member Sarah Beasley declared her intention to run for DEM on Tuesday saying she was prompted to run as she wants to use the office to “highlight the fact that while Limerick is a gem, it is not ‘shining’ as it should.”

Referring to the Aontú office on Thomas Street in Limerick City, Ms Beasley said that they are “absolutely inundated” with people coming to them with “truly serious problems.” 

“They feel abandoned, ignored and hopeless,” she added.

Ms Beasley gave a personal example of a friend who had died from suicide after “living on the street” for six years.

“The world is a very cold place for people who have problems, despite all the platitudes and lip service about inclusion,” Ms Beasley said.

“We have a fabulous city; it is full of history, full of beauty and full of potential. However, we do have problems, serious problems,” she added.

According to Ms Beasley, Limerick has “a desperate housing issue” and poor access to medical care.

“People who never even contemplated they could be homeless, are homeless, families who never even contemplated they could be waiting for years for medical treatment, are on ever-lengthening waiting lists,” she added.

Ms Beasley said that Limerick is in her bones.

“I absolutely love and believe in it. It could quite literally be the jewel in the crown of the Mid-West, but the will has to be there. I can’t think of another city in Ireland that has the amenities, both natural and man-made that we have, but is so taken for granted and beset with issues,” she said.

“We’re consistently told that the country is awash with money, but we’ve never had so many people who are homeless. At every corner of Limerick City, we have people begging for money. They are not living; they are existing, and this is a black stain on our city,” she added.

Ms Beasley highlighted “spiralling levels of mental illness” as one of the issues she intends to tackle.

“We are blessed to have the Limerick Treaty Suicide Prevention group, I call them ‘Street Angels’ who are patrolling the River Shannon day and night in a bid to try and prevent suicides, and they are doing sterling work, but they need more support,” she said, pledging that if she is successful in her bid for DEM, she would give the group a permanent base to operate from.

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Ms Beasley said that part of the mental health crisis is “no doubt being brought on by the huge strain and stress that people are under just trying to make ends meet.”

“We have little children who are in agony waiting for spondylosis treatment that they have been promised time and time again. This is horrendous both for them and their loved ones who have to watch them suffer,” Ms Beasley added.

Ms Beasley said that money is currently not being spent in the best interests of the people.

“Cynical promises are made to get votes and then broken just as quickly and nobody it seems is held to task. The lack of transparency and accountability is absolutely galling,” Ms Beasley finished. 

Aontú leader, Deputy Peadar Tóibín TD endorsed Ms Beasley’s bid, saying “Sarah truly espouses everything that we as a party stand for.”