Limerick Mayor meets with An Taoiseach in Government buildings

Limerick City and County Mayor Gerald Mitchell met with An Taoiseach and Fine Gael Party Leader, Leo Varadkar, in Government Buildings on July 4^th.

The Taoiseach, along with all of his senior Ministers, met with the 13 Fine Gael Councillors who have recently been elected as the first citizen of their county/city.

Cllr Mitchell was first elected as a councillor to Limerick City and County Council in 2014 and began his term as Mayor in June after a unanimous vote. He outlined some of his main priorities in his new role.

“My family has served the people at local level since 1899 when my great grand Uncle Thomas B Mitchell was the first chairman of Limerick County Council.

“l am the 5th Mitchell to be elected and our motto down through the years has always been “Public Service not Self Service”.

“Now as Mayor of Limerick City and County, l will be prioritising Uisce Eireann to upgrade sewerage plants in the County. Many are not fit for purpose and as a result are automatically stifling growth in our towns and villages, including the town of Hospital where I am from.

“We are investing in our rural areas through Town and Village Schemes and Active Travel etc and I believe we have achieved a lot in this regard but have much more to do.

“We need a strong economic Limerick City at its Core so that this economic strength reverberates back out to the County and rural areas.

“We need to keep attracting new business to Limerick and the Mid-West to bring people to live, work and play here.

“Our third level institutions provide the necessary skilled labour force that provides the backbone to our strong local economy.

“My aim is to work for the people, with the people for the betterment of the City and County at all levels and it is my great honour and privilege to do so.”

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said, “I had a good two-hour meeting with Councillor Mitchell in Government Buildings on July 4^th to discuss the issues that matter to the people of Limerick.

“The meeting gave Councillor Mitchell the opportunity to raise these issues directly with me. I committed to Councillor Mitchell to work on these issues.

“The need for more funding this year for local and regional road maintenance, a top up allocation for the Local Improvement Scheme and, in the coming years, funding to advance new road projects that are delayed, the urgent need to service much more land for housing were raised at the meeting. On energy security and climate, they impressed on me the need to increase aid to farmers, schools, community buildings and businesses to install solar panels and become energy efficient.

“I look forward to working with Councillor Mitchell and visiting Limerick during his term as Mayor.”

Fine Gael is making a real impact in communities through the hard work of our local representatives. With 13 Mayors/Cathaoirligh across the country Fine Gael is representing stronger, safer communities in every part of the country.

ENDS