Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We will see. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, for getting this over the line. We disagreed on some of it but, as Deputy Leddin said, this is a historic day for Limerick and I hope this is something we will all be proud of in the years ahead. I put on record my thanks to the former Minister of State, Deputy John Paul Phelan, who initiated the Bill back in 2023, and to the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, who shepherded it as best he could through the Houses. I thank Tim O'Connor of the implementation group, who did sterling work, and everybody who contributed to that project. I also thank the witnesses who came to the extensive committee meetings we held on the matter and the Members who participated in them. They were quite good. I especially thank Oireachtas Members, including my colleague, Deputy Denise Mitchell, and particularly those Members from Limerick, who contributed to parts of the debate, whether in the committee, in the Seanad or here in the Dáil.

I remind the Government that it should come up with some sort of funding to publicise the election. It would have been much better if we had a stand-alone election. We are not going to have one and I am afraid that some people will not understand that we are having a second different election or the importance of the new role we are developing. It is going to be difficult for some people to vote because they will be getting ballot papers for the local elections, the European elections, the referendum on the unified patent court and the Limerick mayoral election. People in Limerick will be getting four ballot papers on the day of the election. It is a good day for Limerick. We finally got here. It is great to get it over the line. I hope to see it progress and I hope to see the mayor doing well, whoever he or she will be. I hope the role will be enhanced over the years.

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