Mayor’s bold actions leading to new opportunities

BEING bold with public money does not mean being careless. That’s according to Mayor of Limerick, John Moran...

That’s according to Mayor John Moran, who says that new mayoral functions and funding played a unique role when national funds were not available to secure valuable lands in Patrickswell for much-needed housing.

Limerick, he suggests, now has advantages in getting deals across the line because it has a directly-elected mayor with decades of experience as a lawyer, banker, and public-sector negotiator, including during Ireland’s engagement with the Troika.

“In my first two years, I successfully negotiated with national Government to secure approval to sign the €32million contracts to flood-proof King’s Island, €84m for the abandoned road from Coonagh to Moyross, additional funding to meet the increased costs of €70m for the OPW tower in Opera Square, and almost €23million of funding for regeneration project,” Mayor Moran insists.

However, when the private sector is involved, he confessed to it being a “different ball game”.

One of the largest such deals and one of the most important given our housing crisis that the executive Mayor has led has been the acquisition by Limerick Council of almost 70-acres at Attyflin in Patrickswell.

“Securing the deal introduced different mayoral office dynamics and the added suspense of securing the property before another buyer took the opportunity away,” he revealed.

With master-planning by Limerick Twenty Thirty now under way, and the lands to be used temporarily as a park-and-ride facility during the Ryder Cup, Mayor Moran is of the view that owning the land matters.

“Limerick had not undertaken an acquisition on this scale since the Mungret College lands were purchased from NAMA while I was in the Department of Finance,” he said.

“Long before I became Mayor, I was familiar with the work of the National Economic and Social Council on land and housing. Its 2018 report, Urban Development Land, Housing and Infrastructure, argued that the State must take a more active role in urban development. Too often, value created by public planning and infrastructure becomes a private windfall while the State later struggles to acquire land for public needs.

“Strategic public ownership offers a different model. If the public acquires the right land before future investment and planning decisions increase its value, that future value can help deliver infrastructure and public amenities. It also allows an area to be planned as a whole and integrated to existing settlements instead of private developers coming up with their own ideas site by site,” the Mayor said.

Mayor Moran believes this acquisition shows how Limerick’s vote for an executive mayor with a mandate to do things differently and fund of their own can turn ideas into delivery.

“In this case, a councillor (Fergus Kilcoyne) spotted the opportunity and officials contributed professional expertise. My responsibility was to make the at times hard decisions, set deadlines, navigate the obstacles and secure the outcome,” he said.

“Being bold with public money does not mean being careless. It means understanding the opportunity, testing the evidence, negotiating hard and structuring the transaction so that the public is protected.

“The acquisition does not predetermine what will be built. The masterplan will now involve listening to the community and complying with planning, environmental and consultation requirements.

“For years, Irish public bodies have been told to become more active in acquiring and managing land. In Patrickswell, Limerick has now found a way to do exactly that,” Mayor Moran concluded.