Mayor of Limerick

The Mayor is elected to office annually by councillors of Limerick City and County Council from amongst its members.[5] There is currently no popular vote, but in May 2019 a plebiscite was held during the local elections which voted in favour of a directly elected mayor, with the first expected to be elected in 2022.[6] Current practice is for the term of office to begin in June[3] with the former Mayor presenting the Chain of Office to the incoming Mayor, thus formally inaugurating a new term. The process is repeated the following June, unless the same person is given a second consecutive term.

At the 2019 Limerick City and County Council election, voters approved a proposal in a plebiscite on the establishment of a directly elected mayor for Limerick City and County by a vote of 52.4%.[7] In August 2023, the Local Government (Mayor of Limerick) Bill 2023 was published.[8] Kieran O'Donnell, Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, stated that it was the intention of the government that the election for a directly elected Mayor for Limerick would be held on the same date as the 2024 local elections, which will be held between 6 June and 9 June 2024.[9] The powers currently vested in the chief executive are proposed to be transferred to the Mayor of Limerick.

The office has existed, in one form or another, since it was inaugurated in 1195. The title of Provost was used up to the 14th century.[1]

Throne of Limerick mayors

• Thomas Smyth (1764–1765, 1776–1777), MP and Colonel of Limerick Militia
• John Vereker, 3rd Viscount Gort (1831–1832), MP and later Irish Peer
• Stephen O'Mara (1885–1887), nationalist MP and later Cummann na nGael Senator, first nationalist Mayor of Limerick
• John Daly (1899–1901), revolutionary nationalist MP, leading member of Irish Republican Brotherhood involved in 1867 rising
• Michael Joyce (1905–1907), nationalist MP, leader of Irish National League, founder of Garryowen Football Club
• Phons O'Mara (1918–1920), republican, negotiated truce with Limerick Soviet in 1919
• George Clancy (1921), Sinn Féin Mayor shot dead in office by Black and Tans in 1921
• Stephen M. O'Mara (1921–1923), republican politician, later Fianna Fail member of the Council of State
• Michael Keyes (1928–1930), Labour Party TD, Minister for Local Government and Posts and Telegraphs and President of the Irish Trades Union Congress, the first Limerick person to be a cabinet member since independence[10]
• Stephen Coughlan (1951–1952, 1969–1970), Labour Party TD
• Ted Russell (1954–1957, 1967–1968, 1976–1977), Independent and later Fine Gael politician, TD and Senator,
• Donogh O'Malley (1961–1962), Fianna Fail Minister for Education and Health, introduced free secondary education up to Intermediate Certificate
• Frances Condell (1962–1964), first elected woman Mayor
• Michael Lipper (1973–1974), Democratic Labour and Labour Party TD
• Pat Kennedy (1974–1975), Fine Gael Senator
• Thady Coughlan (1975–1976), Labour Party, aged 24, youngest Mayor since 1842
• Frank Prendergast (1977–1978, 1984–1985), Labour Party TD
• Tony Bromell (1982–1983), Fianna Fail Senator
• Jim Kemmy (1991–1992, 1995–1996), Labour Party TD
• Jan O'Sullivan (1993–1994), later Labour Party Senator, TD, Minister for Education and Skills
• Kevin Kiely (2009–2010), Fine Gael councillor

• Lord Mayor of Dublin
• Lord Mayor of Cork
• Mayor of Galway