The Long And the Short Of It
The Mayor of Limerick, Jim Long, has been embroiled in a number of controversies recently. So who is he? What does he represent? And is he really a racist, as his accusers claim?
Olaf Tyaransen, 18 Apr 2012
It might be unfair to accuse Long of taking himself too seriously, for these are serious times in Limerick. With its reputation for criminality, drugs and violence, it used to be known as ‘Stab City’, but nowadays ‘Glock City’ might be a more appropriate moniker. We’re meeting the week after the Collins family – whose son, Roy, was murdered for testifying against a local thug – have been forced to flee the country under the Witness Relocation Programme following a three-year campaign of intimidation by one of the city’s more ruthless and deadly drug cartels.
OLAF TYARANSEN: When you were elected last year, you told the Limerick Leader that your “childhood dream” had finally been achieved. Was becoming Mayor really your childhood dream?
MAYOR JIM LONG: Oh yes (nods head vigorously). That story came about when I was about eleven years of age. We were brought before the classroom and we were asked, “Where do you see yourself going in life?” And when it came to my turn, I said, “Someday I’m going to be the Mayor of Limerick.” They all started fuckin’ laughing at me, but it was my dream.
How did you go about achieving it?
I started to read about the Civil War – the 1916 Rising. I got very interested in Michael Collins, and I got very disturbed in the whole cycle when I started reading the horrific stories about brothers shooting brothers, and mothers and fathers being divided. I got so emotionally upset by that because my father’s family came from a huge background. My mother’s family were huge. I have six sisters and two brothers, so I was in a big family. And somewhere in the mix I could go back in time and see my family being destroyed over land, religion, politics, the whole lot. So I became a very one-party politician.
How do you mean?
I got involved with Fine Gael canvassing, at about 14 or 15. I decided I would stick with Fine Gael because they were the underdogs, they were the party in the middle. I’ve always felt that someone in the middle can influence either the top or the bottom. Now this is my mindset, this is no-one else’s. To this day, and as Mayor of Limerick City, I have successfully held a full Council together of all colours and all parties, because I engage with (counts off on fingers) Sinn Féin, Fianna Fáil, the Independents, the Labour Party and, mostly, the Fine Gael party. I tick-tack the boxes of what’s going on. For the first time ever, we have an all-parties meeting prior to the main meeting, so the thorny issues that are going to cause controversy we discuss prior. And if there’s a common ground, we will deliver it for the people of the city. I found that was amiss in many of the council meetings. It was always a ‘them and us’. I have successfully avoided that, and the city has benefitted from it.
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