Thread: I’ve not been vocal online about the COVID Mobility Plan. It’s fair enough to say it’s not all that I would have wanted but I’m really concerned that those who have moved significantly over recent years being unfairly blamed after a lot of hard work.

Consultation is a major issue in the council. There’s no doubt that the systems are somewhat broken at the moment. The problem is more that they don’t work for ANYONE.

It’s easy to point at people with cycling and pedestrianisation in their name and paint them as the good guy.

Other than a small number of loud mouthed outliers, the vast, vast majority of citizens, advocacy groups, elected reps and council workers are doing their absolute best to navigate a pandemic and system that isn’t built to do so. The vast majority are the good people.

I gotta be honest. I didn’t like the nastiness that came out over the past few days. While the result of the meeting last Monday was disappointing the work that all parties put in to do their best wasn’t.

There’s a strong cohort from @labour @LimerickGreens @sinnfein and @SocDemsLK that have been very vocally supportive on all aspects. They’re outstanding and I’m mad about them all.

There was some absolutely outstanding work and advocacy done by @fiannafailparty and @FineGael in the background of the council over the past week that I feel has been incredibly unfairly overlooked.

In terms of a future vision of transport in Limerick @jamesjcollins is someone who has always impressed me. He has a real passion and vision for how we can change transport in our city and has given me lots to think of in his contributions over the years.

Last week would have been the end of the Covid Mobility Plan if not for @sarahleekiely who insisted that there be a fortnightly review. If anything improves going forward it’ll be because she helped keep the door open for our public reps. She deserves a lot of credit for that.

In terms of ParkLets and other measures I know that @DanielButlerFG has put a ton of real hard graft behind the scenes. I’ve always found him an honourable guy coming from a background of community and drugs education pushing to do his best for all.

It’s super easy to punch down and I totally understand the impetus to do so when we feel hopeless and powerless. We need to remember that when our council is at it’s most effective it’s when parties work across party lines.

Looking at my backyard in Raheen, the land that became Mungret Park and later space for schools came about because Thomas Hannon, @jamesjcollins and @DanielButlerFG ‘s dad Richie put their political differences aside and worked together to deliver essential infrastructure.

I can look at the newly announced cycling projects in City West and point to Daniel, James, @jleddin and @elisaodonovan who all went to bat to get it delivered.

I know workers at all levels in @LimerickCouncil who are breaking their backs to deliver because they live here and they want the same as us. There’s so many of them just as invested in their communities as us and too often they’re denigrated despite it. They deserve better.

All this isn’t to say people shouldn’t be disappointed. We should.

The systems and processes need to be looked at urgently. Consultation as it currently stands doesn’t fully empower its citizens nor fully inform our public reps.

I don’t know what the full answer is but we need to stop punching down at people who are trying to do their best for Limerick. If we don’t engage and discuss issues like this in a healthy cooperative manner we’ll never have the city we love reach the potential we all know it has.