In May 2019, the people of Limerick said ‘Yes’. We said ‘Yes’ to choosing a new type of mayor, one that has the power and the budget to make Limerick better.
It is almost 1,000 days since the people of Limerick voted to be the first Irish county to elect its own mayor by popular vote. We are still waiting. Every day that passes means another day of lost opportunity for our county and its people. Central government has not prioritised this and is failing Limerick City and County despite the people’s vote. This is not acceptable. We seek urgent action from Government to secure our vote and call on all Limerick public representatives to make this happen early in 2022.
1,000 DAYS, 1,000 VOICES
Today, we are launching the #WeWantOurVote campaign. We call on the people of Limerick to sign our petition to call for our right to choose our new mayor. Every day that passes is a day that Limerick is not being prioritised, blocking the changes needed to provide for a better future. On 17th February 2022 it will be it will be 1,000 days since we said yes to choosing our own mayor. We will not wait another 1,000 days. We need your voice, help us add 1,000 names to our petition. We are calling for our vote before 1,000 days have elapsed. The government knows what needs to be done – they now need to do it!
Today we launch our petition and our digital campaign. Please share our petition with your family, friends, neighbours, and your public representatives.
Limerick is your county; your future #WeWantOurVote
John Moran – Chair, Liveable Limerick, info@liveablelimerick.com
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INVITATION TO PRESS CALL
When: Tuesday 23rd November at 12 noon Where: Arthur’s Quay Park (site of former tourist office)
Who: Mary Fitzgerald (Woodlands House Hotel, Adare), Stephen Kinsella (academic, author, broadcaster), Linda Ledger (St Munchin’s Community Centre, Moyross) and John Moran (Chair, Liveable Limerick). Please contact: Nigel Dugdale (085) 801 1009 or Elaine Sorensen (087) 657 4840
#LiveableLimerick warmly welcomes the report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage issued today and calls on the Government to implement the recommendations without delay.
We want to thank the committee members, other witnesses and all those who made written submissions supporting our call for radical change. We particularly thank the members of the Committee and its Chair Steven Mathews for their hard work and balanced and well researched report which reinforces why the initial provisions needed radical change not just for Limerick but for all local authorities in Ireland.
The new office of directly elected mayor will be the catalyst for Limerick and the Mid-West region to move forward and finally reach its true potential.
This change in local government is the most important reform and change since Independence and the adoption of Bunreacht na hEireann and the decision to join the EU.
The people of Limerick voted for more local democracy. They want the right to choose their mayor directly for themselves, they want that mayor to have the right powers and funding and they will hold the Mayor accountable if s/he does not deliver.
This report shows that there is now all party consensus that the scheme of legislative proposals initially circulated by the Government did not deliver on what was promised to the people of Limerick when they voted to have the right to choose their own mayor.
Like others, #LiveableLimerick asked the members of the Committee to recommend key changes in three areas:-
To immediately transfer to the office of the Mayor all the extra powers they need to be able to deliver on their democratic mandate
To transfer to Limerick the funding and spending power needed to so deliver, and
To make key changes in the structure of the office and its relationship with other actors so that the will of the people of Limerick will not be frustrated.
They responded with important recommendations.
Each area for change is the leg of the one three legged stool. That stool will fall over if those opposed to the reform are now allowed to cherry pick the recommendations for change.
The recommendations of the committee now need to be implemented quickly and in full and without delay.
We call on Minister Burke to ensure that the election he and now two successive Governments promised for 2021 a deadline which has been missed will be held no later than the Spring of 2022.
Every further week of delay is yet another a week lost for the people of Limerick.
There is no time to lose.
It is time to put an end to the suspended animation of our local government.
November 16, 2021
Further Information:
Further detail is attached in Annex A of the recommendations and our related submissions.
#LiveableLimerick is a social movement of volunteers who love their county and want to bring about change to make it more liveable.
#LiveableLimerick is about a community coming together for public fun events or campaigns and engaging under five key values:
Long Term Ambition: Creating a long term ambitious vision for a greener and cleaner Limerick and successful Mid-West region.
Desirability and Fun: Making Limerick city centre the most desirable, safe and fun place to live, work, shop and visit.
Inclusion: Cherishing and engaging all communities old and new, urban and rural, people of all ages and abilities.
People Focused: Designing best-in-class public realm and urban mobility strategies for all who use our county not just those who drive in cars.
Valuing or Heritage: enjoying or world class build heritage and protecting it for future generations.
Contact Details:
info@liveablelimerick.com
Committee Recommendations
What #LiveableLimerick asked for
SCENE SETTING
“The Committee notes that if the office of the mayor is to be a success, not just for Limerick but for our democracy and country, it must be of additional value (emphasis added) to the democratic processes and not just amount to a new office and role”
As per our Submission:- “It is not too late to fix things There is time to repair the existing legislation and create a workable model for the future. I place my trust in your Committee to see how that can be done.” “Are the proposed provisions true to the first three principles of the Government’s own objectives of March 2019, (1) that the mayor must “add value”, (emphasis added) (2) the “subsidiarity principle” whereby national government should not take action where action could as effectively be taken at regional or local level, and (3) the need for “Empowerment” which means the directly elected mayor should be as empowered as possible to perform their functions while remaining appropriately accountable?”
POWERS
Rec 1 – The committee recommends that the proposed Bill be amended:To ensure that any of the specified functions [reserved to CEO] could become a function of the Mayor, to further consider the issue of Mayor’s powers before the Bill is enacted using..paper…approved by the Government in March 2019 as a guide; and for the Bill to contain provisions for a review of those powers after one year
From our Submission:- “The Mayor has not enough powers. This is where we get to the core of the issue. Head 28 sets out the powers of the mayor. There are 3 categories – (a) those of the CEO today less ones kept by the CEO as Director General going forward, (b) those maybe coming under Part 3 which does not give any and (c) those coming in the future but not given now. So let’s call a spade a spade. With the refusal to transfer powers now and only a vague promise of a review in 2024 to allow for a transfer for the next election in 2029, the first mayor and perhaps many more are lame duck mayors with even less powers than the CEO at present but a public expectation of someone finally who will deliver for Limerick. Because enactment, this has to change and should with respect be a clear recommendation from the cross party committee.” “The time to stop the talking is now. Don’t allow it to be deferred again. The Committee must now make clear recommendations to transfer immediately the powers and budget identified in the consultation committee and the Government must act to prefer the democratic will of the people of Limerick over unelected control merchants.” “Now is not the time to kick the can down the road even more. To me, this reads seems like legislation to plan for more legislation dealing with the real issues in another 5 or 7 years rather than fixing the problem now.
Rec 2 – The Committee believes that the powers and functions of the Directly Elected Mayor should be in line with successful models in other countries. The Committee therefore recommends that the proposed Bill be amended to provide significant additional powers and functions to the directly elected mayor including, but not limited to, transport, planning, health, climate adaptation and mitigation measures and the oversight of housing and regeneration strategies.
From our Submission:- “Instead, of establishing the empowered effective mayor Limerick needs to deliver change based on models from other successful cities this legislation has created a new role – the most important taxpayer paid lobbyist in Ireland. “ “Now is not the time to kick the can down the road even more. To me, this reads seems like legislation to plan for more legislation dealing with the real issues in another 5 or 7 years rather than fixing the problem now. Limerick and other suffering regional cities cannot wait any longer. Limerick for example badly needs a new holistic democratically local management structure which can deliver for Limerick, solve its housing problems, its unemployment blackspots social deprivation and a failure to invest in infrastructure to combat climate change and have a truly green city region which can reach its potential to be an economic engine in Ireland.”
FUNDING
Rec 3 – The Committee recommends that the proposed Bill provide the office of the DEM with funding and revenue raising powers as outlined in the IAG report, including an annual block grant and access to and management of a special sub-fund to be created through the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund.It should be clarified that the meant “revenue raising powers” to include a decentralised approval for borrowing with a separate multi-annal borrowing limited provided to LCCC as per the IAG report
From our Submission:- “In the legislation there is no references to new sources of funding. There are 12 pages in Chapter 3 setting out the “Functions” of the mayor and how they will be exercised but by contrast a whopping 222 pages talking about the procedural issues of the process for running the election. That gives some indication of where the emphasis was when drafting. Hard decisions have been long-fingered to hold power in Dublin. “ “The democratically chosen mayor and Limerick’s councillors will not even be trusted to spend more wisely the money the state knows it has to spend on the Mid-West than unelected officials in Dublin who might not even have visited Limerick let alone understand its needs.” … “There is only one safe way. What needs to happen is that the additional powers to solve the problems of Limerick need to be given to the office before the election so we know the candidates will have the powers to deliver their promises or are just telling porkies.What needs to happen is that a fair budget in terms of other national priorities must be allocated for the full term of the mayor so that the candidates promises can be gauged against that.What needs to happen is that the decision makers in Dublin finally trust the people of Limerick.” “What therefore gives central government the continuing need to say that a mayor of Limerick elected by a majority of 150,000 people, held democratically accountable by 40 or so elected Limerick councillors and ultimately accountable to the Oireachtas itself cannot be trusted with a budget of several hundreds of million.” From the Committee Report:- “Mr Moran noted that this would not entail requesting additional funding but constitute utilising the funding available to Limerick over the course of the mayoral term and delegating the decisions and priorities in relation to how that funding is spent to the Limerick mayor and councillors. “Mr Moran advised that without known budgets or powers there is a danger that mayoral candidates will campaign on unrealistic expectations and provide the electorate with false promises. In contrast, Mr Moran noted that if the right powers and an envelope of multi-year funding were to be provided to the mayor, the electorate could assess the promises of mayoral candidates to ascertain the bona-fides of various programmes of office.”
Rec 4 – The Committee recommends that the proposed Bill be amended to provide the mayor with the power to convene meetings of the Directly Elected Implementation Forum and that the forum be statutorily obliged to meet quarterly.
From our Submission:- “Read the text carefully as the traps are carefully laid unless significant changes are made before enacted. For example, there are very promising provisions about a new forum for the implementation of the reform but read carefully it soon becomes clear that the new first citizen of Limerick wanting to have a meeting with the Taoiseach and Minister for Finance to discuss failures of implementation or extra powers or budget they need cannot even convene the Forum if the Minister for Housing does not want to call it and has no guarantee the Minister for Finance or DPER will even be there and certainly their boss the Taoiseach will not be to ensure valid arguments are implemented.” From the Committee report:- “In discussing this provision (that about the Forum), it was noted by Mr Moran that if the Directly Elected Mayor seeks to have a meeting with the Minister for Finance or Housing, Local Government and Heritage to discussed additional powers, funding or failure of implenmtation, they are unable to convene (emphasis added) such a meeting.”
Rec 5 – The committee recommends that the proposed Bill contain provisions that allow the elected council to assess and make recommendations on the Mayor’s Programme for Office.
From our Submission:- “Risk of stalemate in the Council Chamber from the get go. Another illusory power as written is that related to the “Programme of Local Government”. It is to be prepared by the mayor presumably reflecting the priorities of the election but is to be sent “for approval” by the Council. What if the mayor was elected with a political mandate different from that of the majority of the council? Surely the important mandate is that of the mayor. It is of course only right to have to present and listen but stalemate cannot result so early in a term. It must be recognised that the political allegiances of the mayor might not be the same as those of the majority of the Chamber. Limerick voted in 2019 to concentrate that power in one individual, subject to checks and balances but not to have other arms of state frustrate the mandate of the mayor, subject only to the need to get the budget approved annually to move forward. The mayor might make changes having listened but should still have the power to drive on with his or her programme and seek compromises on budget approval day. Even mayors following national policies could be hi-jacked by a local council wanting impossible to achieve Limerick exceptions.”
Rec 6 The Committee recommends that the requirement for the first Mayor’s Programme to have regard to the existing corporate plan be removed.
From our Submission:- “Unnecessary delays in the production of the legislation are also making it hard for a new mayor to work change. Limerick is now waiting at least 3 years for the promised election and in the meantime core statutory documents will be finalised and will make it impossible for the mayor to do different things during their term even if that is what the people vote for in 2022.”
Rec 7 – Regarding the Review of functions, the first review should be commenced earlier than 2024 and it should be open to the newly elected mayor to commence this process on assuming office
From our Submission:- “Now is not the time to kick the can down the road even more. To me, this reads seems like legislation to plan for more legislation dealing with the real issues in another 5 or 7 years rather than fixing the problem now. Limerick and other suffering regional cities cannot wait any longer. Limerick for example badly needs a new holistic democratically local management structure which can deliver for Limerick, solve its housing problems, its unemployment blackspots social deprivation and a failure to invest in infrastructure to combat climate change and have a truly green city region which can reach its potential to be an economic engine in Ireland.” Noted by Committee:- “…this point was also elaborated on By Mr Moran as he advised in his opening statement that with little powers being transferred at present and a review promised for 2024 to allow for a transfer for the next election in 2029, the first mayor risks being a “lame duck” mayor with fewer powers than the Director General but with a public expectation to deliver for Limerick.”
GOVERNANCE AND STRUCTURE
Rec 8 – The committee recommends that the proposed Bill provide the Mayor with the power to select and appoint all staff members (referred to under Head 22 of the General Scheme) of their choosing to their office.
From our Submission:- “With the Cathoirleach introduced as a strong political check, the mayor to deliver for the people, should get back the HR powers (emphasis added). If operationally had those powers the mayor could still decide to delegate to the CEO. That is possible under Head 45 but, importantly, if things are not working he or she can take them back. Without that power, the Mayor is not driving the bus. They have no effective power to be able to apply a break if things are being done recklessly or put the foot to the accelerator if things are happening too slowly.”
Rec 9 – The committee recommends that the proposed Bill provide for a procedure where the Director General can be sanctioned or removed in the event they are underperforming or inhibiting delivery of the Mayor’s mandate
Noted by the Committee:- “Mr Moran expanded on the importance of the relationship between the Mayor and the Director General and advised that it is important that there is total alignment of interest between the two. Mr Moran noted that while the Mayor is supposed to deliver on the Councils’ priorities and his or her programme of office, ….they have no power to appoint or remove a Director General if they are not delivering. In this regard Mr Moran advised that this is a receipe for “unelected official ambushing of a democratically elected executive head”. Mr Moran noted the implementation of the elected councils’ directions by the Director General can only be effective if there is effective oversight by the Mayor. He noted…. that the legislation needs to be clearer on how issues with an underperforming director general can be resolved, what the Mayor’s role should be in this regard and the role of the Mayor in choosing a replacement.
10 – The Committee recommends that consideration be given to appointing the Mayor the power to reassign the responsibilities of the Directors of Service within the Local Authority.
The Committee noted:- “Mr Moran noted that while the Mayor is supposed to deliver on the Councils’ priorities and his or her programme of officed, they cannot choose which Directors of Service are best served to deliver….”
Rec 11-15
We would agree with these suggestions but had not requested these items, dealing mainly with future plebiscites
Rec 16 – The committee recommends that the proposed Bill provide for the Directly Elected Mayor to be allocated a seat on the Southern Regional Assembly and that this provision be included in any future legislation governing mayoral plebiscites
From our Submission: “Southern Regional Assembly – another climb down Here we have yet another climb down from the earlier proposals. The explanatory material proposed the Mayor have a seat on the Southern Regional Assembly. This has been watered down to being consulted on the RSES. Without a more formal presence this has no meaning. The public always has to be consulted on the RSES and as a resident of Limerick the mayor is one of the public! He or she should be present in the Chamber to make sure that the priorities of the one Limerick he or she represents are present not just views from the type of political vote block appointments rejected in 2019.“ The Committee noted: “In discussing this with the Committee, Mr Moran noted that if the mayor was t have a seat on the Southern Regional Assembly, they would be involved in the discussions concerning how Limerick would interact with counties like Clare and Tipperary and beyond. Mr Moran further advised that this would be significant benefit as future directly elected mayors in other cities such as Cork and Waterford would then be sitting together at an appropriate level and would be able to work together to advance the interests of the broader southern region.”
The Committee of Yes to #LiveableLimerick welcome the recent positive steps taken by Limerick to protect its citizens by making changes to how people circulate and use parts of the city.
We welcome the fact and thank councillors on both “sides” who insisted that the discussions must continue in two weeks’ time to see how further improvements may be added.
We especially welcome the measures to help people to safely navigate their way to and around the city other than in cars.
Since the foundation of #LiveableLimerick we have been of the view that the way forward for our Limerick is an ambitious liveable plan explained to all stakeholders in an inclusive and positive way. We have pushed for consultation to be open and transparent but also meaningful. We have pushed for dialogue to be respectful and inclusive. We have not been alone. Many others have been vocal in wanting a better city.
Only working together with mutual respect, taking the time to understand each other’s perspectives can real lasting and positive change be implemented. No result should depend on whose voice is loudest or whose threat of legal action is strongest.
Indeed, the role and duty of our officials and elected officials is to guard against that and make sure everyone is represented fairly.
We are today disappointed that many of the people, including our members, who consulted as part of the public process did not see their views communicated and explained to the Councillors at this week’s meeting in a rush to have something agreed. This makes them feel that their views are less important than those of the people (on both sides of the arguments) who have been invited to dialogue before the proposals went for decision to the elected members. It is understandable why people feel angry and disappointed. A strong united city has no place for that.
Limerick Council issued a press release Friday saying that the “vast majority” of the COVID-19 proposals were to be implemented. It was stated that after a review of the submissions and a meeting of an “Advisory Group” (of which we were listed as members), a set of changes would now be implemented. The impression was created by the press release, which we have asked to have corrected, that #LiveableLimerick was part of the discussions leading to the amended proposals. None of our committee or anyone with authority to represent us was invited to the meetings described where we understand common positions or at least amended positions on the original proposals were negotiated. We were also not contacted after the meeting unlike others to see whether we might be able to support the amended position for the elected councillors.
But we say, that is now history. We have to find a way to move forward.
There is reason for optimism not the pessimism which has rained on social media since Wednesday.
A less than perfect process has left many people feeling angry or overlooked but that is not an excuse for nastiness.
We believe in their own way, everyone agrees that they want a better Limerick. Despite the recent advances, our city and towns are still not working as we would like them to.
As a result, we are calling for everyone to take a step back and reflect on their common ground first and then to engage in further dialogue. We understand many other great ideas (not just our own of course!) have been tabled as part of the consultation. These should not be consigned to a closed file in Limerick Council’s office bur carefully examined to see if they can be implemented so that the changes are more inclusive. Specifically, even if the city plan has dominated the airwaves, we should also include better plans for our county towns and villages.
Now we believe is the time for our newly elected Cathoirleach to use her historic office to bring people together. We, like many others to whom we have talked, are ready to support her and help.
Now is also the time for the council staff who have worked hard to get us this far to produce an analysis of the best and least controversial of those ideas, to circulate that full analysis in advance of the meeting in two weeks’ time and for our political leaders to see how many of those might be implemented quickly and how many others need further analysis before they can come back for decision. No one’s points of view should be ignored or forgotten. We would recommend, to ensure a feeling of full transparency that the full set of consultations available on line for those who want to see them.
Most importantly, we call on the council staff to revert to people who carried out their citizens duty to engage in the consultation to explain the whys or why not if their idea is not being put forward.
Some years ago we would never have believed that we would be seeing these positive changes in the core of our city. That is due to strong advocacy across the political spectrum and the hard work of officials in Limerick City and County Council.
Of course, it is natural, we might still want to see more as explained in our own submission.
But the change that can appear obvious and necessary to some may be fearful for others.
It is necessary that we cross this bridge together.
We will be working with traders and the authorities to animate some of the newly available spaces over the summer in a family friendly and fun way.
We call on all parties now to move recent history and their differences to the side. We need to harness a new energy to work on our shared ambition.
In response to the ‘Draft Proposals Guiding Limerick ThroughCovid-19 Transforming a challenge into an opportunity’, #LiveableLimerick has today issued the following statement:-
#Liveablelimerick welcome the proposals to change the uses of streets and public realm to help residents and businesses in our communities to get through these challenging months.
We would, however, encourage that more ambitious street closuresand/or speed limit restrictions are considered not just for the retail part and riverbanks of the city centre but also in other residential parts of the city, including, Kings Island, other areas of Newtown Pery, John’s Square, Hyde Road and other areas in county towns particularly at weekends. We believe other streets proximate to housing, especially apartment living, should be closed on weekends for safer pedestrian use or recreational family cycling.
We also welcome the reduction of speed limits to 25km in the designated area but remind Councillors that 73% of pedestrians hit by a passenger car travelling at 21km-30km hour suffer critical injuries whereas at 11km – 20km only 13% of persons are so injured.
As a result, we are today calling on our Councillors to put safety first and reduce new emergency speed limits from 25km to 15km to create a truly safe space where people, bikes and motorised vehicles can mix comfortably, more commonly known as a “Shared Space”.
“The key condition for the design of any shared surface is that drivers, upon entering the street, recognise that they are in a shared space and react by driving very slowly (i.e. 20km/h or less).”
(Design Manual for Urban Roads and Streets 2019)
We remind Councillors that 15km was the speed limit they agreed forO’Connell Street.
Safety is not just for the streets in Limerick city centre. We would also propose a speed limit of 15km for areas of high pedestrian usage in the Towns and Villages throughout Co. Limerick to improve safety for people making journeys by walking or cycling during the Covid-19 restrictions.
Given the very short distances involved, a further reduction of 10km in speed would not even add 1 minute travel time inside the proposed 25km zone map in Limerick City but would protect of 98% of pedestrian and cyclists road users from the risk of fatal injuries.
#Liveablelimerick fully supports a public information campaign to make road users aware of changes, and enforcement of new speed limits to protect all road users.
We look to you, our politicians, and to our public officials to inspire and lead with yet another “first” for Limerick – not just shared spaces but safe shared spaces for Limerick City and County.
#LiveableLimerick Committee
#LiveableLimerick is a social movement of volunteers who love their city and want to bring about change to make it more liveable place to reside. We want to see Limerick city centre to become the most desirable, safe and fun place to live, work, shop and visit. Limerick deserves the best, let’s plan for the future by designing best-in-class public realm and urban mobility strategies for all who use our city.
Volunteer led initiative launched to help generate cash flow from neighbours for Limerick based SMEs through the COVID-19 period
New initiative is called Lean on me and is led by a number of well-known local volunteers from Limerick
Aim is to generate essential cashflows for local SMEs by helping customers to pay today for a voucher which will be redeemed at a later date when the chosen businesses reopen
Even if the shop is closed, people can pay for the vouchers through the online portal leanonme.eu
Aimed at small and medium sized local Limerick businesses that mean so much to so many people from coffee shops, barbers, hairdressers, butchers and every other local business we value
The pilot project is going live this coming week with some 20 city businesses. Other businesses and towns in the county are coming online very shortly.
Other businesses are free to apply to join.
LIMERICK, Friday 17th April 2020
Lean on me is an initiative devised by @LiveableLimerick and a group of local volunteers to help local Limerick businesses. The new volunteer led initiative uses smart technology to connect customers who want to support their favourite local business. The aim of Lean on me is to act as a conduit between every person who feel that they can contribute some cash and their favourite business. The new web portal www.leanonme.eu allows customers to pay for a voucher for their chosen local business which is collected at a later date after the business reopens.
The initiative especially helps business that do not have the existing IT infrastructure to generate very essential cash flow and sell vouchers online. The overall goal of Lean on me is to re-start the cashflow for local businesses. While businesses may have closed their doors and the cash dried up – the bills have not. Lean on me wants to ensure that local businesses re-open and flourish when the time is right. The people of Limerick’s immediate support will help business to re-open in the coming months.
The businesses hosted on Lean on me are businesses that everyone really wants to see open when we return back to normal. They are businesses that mean something to you (and us!). They are businesses that are not big enough to survive this on their own. The list of criteria is short, but it is important that as many people and businesses as possible get involved.
Criteria:
Independent retailer, or small chain with local origins
Locally operated and managed
Essential to the personality and fabric of Limerick
Irreplaceable if not sustained
The online portal, www.leanonme.eu, was built by Sean Ryan and his team at elive (a local Limerick business) while Pat Fitzgerald and his team at Grid Finance (another local business) will manage the safe transfer of funds from the customer to the business. This process is supported by a wider team of local volunteers from all different types of backgrounds but with one aim – to keep our favourite businesses going.
The idea started when local business leaders John Moran and Joe Brooks found a shared desire to support their favourite local Limerick businesses throughout the COVID-19 lockdown period. Since then, they have rallied the troops, using the #liveablelimerick network and found no shortage of volunteers with Will Ryan of the Limerick Post, local economist Seán Golden and Miriam O’Connor of Sellors Solicitors quickly showing an interest in getting involved.
The Lean on me team now stands at 10 direct volunteers with much more help coming from the wider community in Limerick as the days go on. Because of the travel restrictions, the team would particularly like to have other local business champions from all across the county make contact to see how the network of participating businesses to be supported can be expanded.
The process is simple. For vendors, they register their details on www.leanonme.eu and supply the relevant information then create awareness amongst the local community that they are now “open for business”. For customers it is just as easy, log on to www.leanonme.eu purchase a coupon (or coupons) for your business of choice and the retailer will reach out to you directly to discuss how you can redeem your voucher(s). While the process is simple, it will go a long way in helping the local business that we care most about. After all, SMEs in Limerick account for more than 44% of total employment, they are often the linchpin of many local communities and they are the businesses where many of us began our careers.
The website will go live on Monday 20th of April with business and customers both being able to start supporting each other.
A full list of businesses volunteering their time to set up and support Lean on me are:
RHH International
Limerick Post
Grid Finance
Sellors Solicitors
elive
Tola
Chair of #LiveableLimerick and founding member of Lean on me, John Moran, said
“Limerick is, above all, a county with a strong sense of community and belonging. We know how to survive by supporting each other. Lean on me looks to help our small businesses out by allowing them to rely on all of us just a little to get through this. Even €10 makes a big difference to a small business if enough people are able to contribute. Small and medium enterprises employ a substantial amount of people in both Limerick City and County they sustain a greater number of families through employment and operating in local areas. We want this to continue.”
Founding member of Lean on me, Joe Brooks, said
“These are businesses that we all care about, they are part of the fabric of Limerick City and County. They provide us with our daily coffee, our groceries, clothing and even the odd social gathering at the weekend. We want, and need, to see these businesses reopen. To let these businesses fight this period on their own does not coincide with the Limerick spirit. While we appreciate and empathise with many people not being in a position to continue to support their local favourite business, we hope there are many people out there that are lucky enough to still be in a position to offer support now when their local business needs it more than ever.”
Sean Ryan, Managing Director of elive and member of Lean on me, said
“It is great to see such a community spirit when it comes to supporting local business. Being part of a local business myself I know how important this will be in keeping them going. It is great to see such a large amount of local businesses looking to support other local business, from Pat and his team at Grid Finance, to Will’s team at the Limerick Post and Miriam’s team at Sellors everyone showed a real appetite to volunteer their time from the get go and get this system up and running. The process is really straight forward the customer comes to www.leanonme.eu and they select their amount and their chosen business input their payment information and that’s it. They will receive a confirmation receipt and the retailer will reach out letting them know how to redeem their voucher”
Volunteer led initiative launched to help generate cash flow from neighbours for Limerick based SMEs through the COVID-19 period
#LiveableLimerick 