The Local Government (Directly Elected Mayor with Executive Functions in Limerick City & County) Bill 2021 will provide for the establishment of the office of mayor, mayoral functions, and the governance structures underpinning that office.

It also sets out an electoral code to hold mayoral elections in Limerick and provides for the potential holding of plebiscites on creating further directly-elected mayors in other cities in 2024.

Limerick voters backed the creation of a directly-elected mayor in a 2019 plebiscite, but the idea was rejected by voters in Cork and Waterford.

Peter Burke, minister of state for local government and planning, said: “I am pleased that government has given its approval to begin drafting the legislation necessary to establish the office of directly elected mayor in Limerick and to hold a mayoral election in Limerick later this year, if the public health situation allows.

“This important decision brings us another step closer to the people of Limerick being able to elect their own mayor.”