Make up of newly-elected Limerick council is 'like a dolly mixture of people'

THE ADMINISTRATION of Limerick’s metropolitan district is on knife-edge ahead of the first meeting of the local authority later this week - the first since the elections.

It comes with Fine Gael and Fianna Fail falling one seat short of securing a governing majority on the urban district in the local election.

The Civil War parties - are likely to govern together in the overall 40-member council as they have 23 members overall.

This will mean the two parties will be able to dominate the election of the príomh-chomhairleoir, an annual contest among members for a new role to chair council meetings, and deputise for the new directly-elected mayor.

But in the metropolitan district, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael only have 10 together - meaning they need to seek outside support to get to the magic number of 11 councillors to rule the roost at City Hall.

In order to do this, the two parties will likely need to offer a paid position in the upcoming term of the local authority, for example a year as the leader of the metropolitan district.

It’s understood Labour and its three members have sought an interest in governing alongside the two parties.
Their price is unclear, however, with party members not returning calls.

There remains a possibility that the opposition groupings, who now have a majority of one, could come together and lock both Fine Gael and Fianna Fail out of power in the city for the first time since 2004.

The administration of the metropolitan district is vital.

For it is here where the majority of councillors in Limerick are based, where the largest population is.

Is it in their gift to decide on where funding for community groups can go - and metropolitan councillors also have a veto on planning applications undertaken by public bodies on public land.

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Crucially, it is the bloc with the largest numbers who will be able to elect a new leader every year.

While Fine Gael and Fianna Fail are on the look-out for a single coalition partner, there have been meetings among the opposition groups, who number 11 of how to govern without the Civil War parties.

One such meeting took place in the Limerick Strand Hotel last week, and a council member said they’d be “70%” confident a deal can be done.

Any deal not involving Fine Gael or Fianna Fail would involve a number of parties and individuals. “It’d be too fragmented, there are too many disparate groups. It’s like a dolly mixture of people,” said one councillor.

But another added that governing without Fianna Fail or Fine Gael would be “a once-in-a-lifetime chance.”
“We might never get this again,” they added. “It’d make it a better council.”

“There is a chance to stop Fianna Fail and Fine Gael. That now needs to be taken,” said another member.

Outside of the Civil War parties, there are three Labour members, two Sinn Fein councillors, one Green Party representative and two Social democrats.

On top of this, there are two Independent, and one newly-elected Aontu councillor.