John Moran’s time as the Republic’s only directly elected mayor has so far been marked by clashes with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael councillors in Limerick.
Notably, there was a significant row over Limerick City and County Council’s delayed corporate plan in February.
The plan setting out strategy from 2025 to 2029 was passed by councillors in the Mayor of Limerick’s absence after a fractious seven-hour meeting he left for health reasons.
In a post on his website the following week, Moran wrote: “It was one of the lowest points since my election.”
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Now, newly released records show Moran sent complaints to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael leaders Micheál Martin and Simon Harris at the time.
In the letters of February 20th, 2026, Moran said he was writing “to raise serious concerns regarding the conduct of certain members of your parties” during the meeting on the council’s corporate plan.
He wrote that the letter was not “motivated by personal grievance”; rather, “it concerns standards of democratic conduct” and “the integrity of the directly elected mayor model in Limerick”.
Moran, a former Department of Finance secretary general, was elected mayor in 2024. He is the first holder of the office and the first of its kind in the Republic. He is an Independent on a council where the largest parties are Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.
In the letters to Martin and Harris, Moran argued that the council corporate plan had been passed in “questionable circumstances”.
He said a draft had been circulated for several months but on the day of the February 10th meeting on the plan, “important substantive changes were introduced late in the process without warning” by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael councillors. “This limited mine and others’ opportunity for proper scrutiny,” he added.
Moran said the changes he was seeking were not later brought to the floor for debate: “It is a basic democratic right of any councillor to propose amendments and to defend them in open chamber.”
He said the “manner in which proceedings” were directed by the Príomh Chomhairleoir [chief councillor], the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael group leaders on the council, “significantly curtailed that opportunity”.
The mayor did not name them in the letters, but Príomh Comhairleoir at the time was Fianna Fáil’s Catherine Slattery while the council leaders of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are Michael Collins and John Sheahan respectively.
In his letters, Moran also outlined how he had cardiac tests in hospital earlier on the day of the meeting and how late that evening he told the party leaders and others present he was “experiencing concerning symptoms which I know arose from the stressful conditions I was placed under, consistent with the reasons for those tests. I made it clear that I was unwell and that the situation required caution and I needed to go home to rest.
“Despite this disclosure, the decision was taken by the Cathaoirleach [Príomh Chomhairleoir] to continue proceedings without me. Your party leaders, concurring, chose to proceed with votes on their new version of the document which did not take account of many of my substantive amendments.”
Moran claimed the circumstances, including the defeat of a proposal by other councillors for deferral of the vote, “raises serious questions about respect, judgment and fairness”.
He asked that Martin and Harris review the conduct of their party members and “reaffirm publicly” their parties’ commitment to “respect for the office of directly elected mayor”.
Records released by the council under the Freedom of Information Act show that Martin wrote back on March 26th: “The Government is fully committed to supporting the office of directly elected Mayor of Limerick and we want to see the new arrangements work effectively and successfully.”
On the “specific matters” Moran raised, Martin said he was advised by the Department of Local Government that “internal matters and the day-to-day operations” of the council are “best dealt with at a local level”, which is “in keeping with the independence of local authorities”.
Last week Slattery said she did not accept Moran’s complaints: “I think we conducted ourselves perfectly fine in a very stressful situation.”
She said Moran “wanted the corporate plan to be passed as he presented it” and the changes made by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were “very small”.
She said she conducted proceedings in a “professional way” and the result was the corporate plan was passed “by a mile”. The vote was 26 in favour and eight against.
She described Moran’s complaint to Martin as “pathetic. Micheál Martin knows well that Fianna Fáil councillors in Limerick work to the best of their ability and all we’re interested in is helping to better our city and its people”.
Slattery stood over the decision for the meeting proceeding after Moran left for health reasons. She said he was asked by numerous people if he needed medical attention, “declined this offer”, and was back at his desk the following morning.
“The decision to carry on with the meeting in my opinion was the correct one as thank God the mayor was fine,” she said.
Relations between Fianna Fáil and Moran have not improved since, she said.
In a statement, a spokesman for Moran disputed this suggestion and also said Slattery’s characterisation of the meeting was “not accepted”.
The statement said 20 pages of amendments on the night is “not consistent with a description of the changes as ‘very small’.”
The statement noted that the “decision to continue proceedings and press ahead with a vote” despite Moran experiencing “concerning” health symptoms “is precisely why the mayor raised the matter directly with the Taoiseach and Tánaiste, and he stands over having done so.
“The large majority of councillors, including many in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, have worked constructively with him [Moran] from the outset of his mandate, increasingly so as delivery for Limerick follows from that co-operation.”
It said the mayor’s relationship with the Taoiseach is “positive and constructive” and that Moran and Harris “likewise maintain a constructive relationship”.
On Moran’s letter to Harris, Fine Gael group leader on the council John Sheahan said the issues raised “in relation to local democracy are issues that need to be addressed and resolved at local level”.
Sheahan disputed the mayor’s portrayal of events surrounding the passing of the corporate plan but did not offer specifics for why.
“Engagement between the mayor, the Executive and the councillors in Limerick has been productive in recent meetings, but respect for the mandate of all councillors and their groupings warrant equal recognition,” he said.
