LIMERICK’S DIRECTLY elected mayor John Moran has said he was advised to “walk away” from the office, but he has insisted he’s “too stubborn and too passionate” to resign, amid a row with several councillors.

A dispute in Limerick City and County Council exploded into public view this week after Moran published a 2,200-word article detailing what he claimed has been a “pattern of resistance” from some councillors in Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, who have the ruling majority on the local authority.

Moran – who was elected two years ago as the first ever directly elected mayor in Irish politics – claimed in the piece that the councillors were doing “all they can” to make the job “unbearable” so that he would step aside.

Today, Opposition TDs called for the government to carry out a review of the legislative functions of the office, and see whether the pilot has resulted in a situation where it’s unclear who is in charge when it comes to decision-making.

Addressing the controversy on RTÉ Radio One today, Moran said he has been given advice that he should leave the role – but he insisted he would stay on.

“I’m too stubborn, I suppose in one way, and I’m too passionate about Limerick and about this reform,” Moran said.

He added that if he were to resign, then he believes some politicians would claim that the role of a directly elected mayor was not working and they “get rid of it” rather than carry it on.

Moran appeared to be referring to comments by Minister for Arts Patrick O’Donovan, who is also a Fine Gael TD for Limerick, who had earlier told local radio that the row was causing “significant reputational damage” to the city.

O’Donovan had told Limerick Today with Joe Nash that a “choice needs to be made on whether to review the role” or to carry on.

On RTÉ this afternoon, Moran said:

If I walk away I guess you can read between the lines. Some people are coming out with statements saying we should have a review, and if it’s not working, we should get rid of it, essentially. And I think that has been the risk all the time in this project.

Moran added that the dispute needed to be “public” and no longer a “private fight” between him and a group of councillors.

“The councillors have the right to take a different view,” he said, adding that any debates such as about housing should take place in public and not in “closed rooms”.

He claimed that a bloc of councillors from Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have often opted for an “immediate referral of an item” at council meetings, which he said leads to negotiations taking place outside of the council chamber rather than in public.

The complaint mirrored that of Green Party councillor Seán Hartigan who claimed in an interview with The Journal yesterday that the roots of the dispute lie in a “loss of power” for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

Hartigan, who said he has deputised for Moran on occasion when the mayor cannot attend council events, said he was firmly backing the Independent in the dispute.

Moran, who ran as an Independent candidate, became a public figure working with the Department of Finance during the austerity years.

He was elected as an Independent in 2024 to serve as Limerick’s directly elected mayor in the first vote of its kind in Ireland, giving greater powers to the mayor’s office.

But his time in the council has seen disputes with a coalition of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil councillors, who hold 23 out of its 40 seats.

Mediator

As well as Patrick O’Donovan, other politicians have spoken about the row today.

Limerick Labour TD and spokesperson on housing and local government Conor Sheehan called on the Government to appoint an independent mediator to resolve the ongoing stand-off at City Hall.

Asked today if a mediator should be appointed, Moran didn’t rule it out and said it “depends what approach the councillors want to take” to resolve the dispute.

A separate issue, Sheehan said, was that at the heart of the “dysfunction are clear weaknesses and ambiguities” in the legislation governing the directly elected mayor.

This has had the effect of leaving “uncertainty” over where executive authority lies and who is ultimately responsible for key governance decisions within the council, Sheehan added.

“That lack of clarity has now led to paralysis,” Sheehan said.

He believes this issue must be addressed as a matter of urgency in a legislative review by the Department of Housing and Local Government.

‘Radical change’

In his remarks today, Moran said that the role of a directly elected mayor is a “radical change” from past systems and that while he believes it’s been “working phenomenally well”, it’s “not at its potential” either.

Moran explained that this is partly because the office was not given the “toolkit needed to deliver by government”.

Councillors from Fianna Fáil initially declined to comment when contacted but, speaking off the record, pushed back heavily against Moran’s claims and said they did not agree with his characterisation of the dispute.

A statement released by the council’s Fine Gael group said that while they “may not always agree” with the mayor on “process or priorities”, they remain committed to “constructive engagement”.

With reporting by Sophie Finn