Crucial constituencies: Limerick City

Thu, 21 Nov, 2024 - 16:34

Tomas Doherty

Healthcare and housing are at the top of voters' concerns in Limerick City.

Here is everything you need to know about the area before heading to the polls on November 29th.

The constituency

Limerick city is at the heart of this constituency, but the boundaries also extend east to the border with Tipperary.

The constituency is slightly smaller compared to the last election after three electoral divisions moved to Tipperary North. The population is 119,039.

The issues

Healthcare is at the top of the election agenda. The emergency department in University Hospital Limerick has the worst overcrowding of any hospital in the State.

Housing is also a major local concern, with growing waiting lists for social homes and students at the city’s university struggling to find accommodation.

There were more than 5,000 qualified applicants on the city’s social housing waiting list last year.

Limerick City has some of the highest poverty rates in the country – 11 electoral divisions in the city are very or extremely disadvantaged, according to the Pobal Deprivation Index.

Seats

There are four seats in this constituency, unchanged from the last election.

The candidates

One of the candidates, Melanie Cleary, of the Mid West Hospital Campaign, is the mother of Eve Cleary, who died aged 21 in 2019 after being discharged from the hospital.

About half of the candidates should be familiar to voters as they also contested the race this summer to become Limerick's elected mayor.

Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Sinn Féin will likely keep their seats here – Green Party TD Brian Leddin will have a battle on his hands to keep his seat.