Samhain fiasco shows why Limerick’s mayoral legislation needs reform

The loss of Lumen Street Theatre’s Samhain parade is a blow to Limerick. Over many years, Lumen’s artists, performers and volunteers built an event that drew thousands of people into the city and became part of its cultural identity.

There are competing accounts of the funding process that led to this decision, and those deserve proper scrutiny. Lumen has been critical of the council’s approach. Council officials have defended the process, pointing to an open call and an independent assessment of the application. The wider Samhain festival is still planned, but its parade will not take place this year.

This story also exposes a problem with Limerick’s system of local government. Decisions of real importance to the city are made through offices and panels whose members are largely unknown to the public. Council staff must be able to apply fair rules and exercise professional judgment. But the public cannot elect them, and it is difficult to see who takes responsibility when the result is the loss of a major event.

We now have a directly elected mayor. Whatever one thinks of the current officeholder, the point of electing a mayor was to give Limerick visible leadership that people could hold to account. Lumen has acknowledged Mayor John Moran’s support. Yet that support did not prevent the parade from falling through. What authority did the mayor have to set the approach, intervene when difficulties emerged, or seek a resolution? The public should not have to guess.

The mayor should not decide which individual applicant wins a grant or override a fair assessment panel. The mayor should be able to set clear priorities for major cultural events, ensure council departments act on them, and require an early explanation when an established event is at risk. When a consequential decision is made, the public should know who made it, under whose authority, and who is answerable for the outcome.

This is why the forthcoming review of the directly elected mayor legislation matters. The 2024 Act requires the Minister to examine how the new system is working and report to the Oireachtas. The review must involve consultation with the mayor, Limerick City and County Council and the statutory consultative forum. The Taoiseach has said it will take place before the end of this year.

That review must be more than a discussion about relationships between personalities in City Hall. It is a chance to test whether the powers given to the mayor match the responsibility the public expects the mayor to carry. Can the mayor direct the council’s work on agreed priorities? Is the division of responsibility between the mayor and senior officials clear? Can the public find out who authorised an important decision and why? If the answers are no, the Government should bring forward the legislative changes needed to put that right.

Limerick is the first place in Ireland to try this model. What the review concludes will matter beyond our city and county, especially if directly elected mayors are introduced elsewhere. We should use the experience of Samhain to make a constructive case for a system in which fair procedures, effective administration and democratic accountability work together.

Limerick voted for a directly elected mayor because people wanted stronger local leadership. The test now is whether the legislation allows that leadership to be exercised, and allows the public to hold it to account.