Sarah Beasley

Sarah Beasley is a resident of Rhebogue where she lives with her family, including her 22-year-old son, two pampered dogs and two adored cats.  Her professional background is a blend of animal veterinary sciences and corporate financial management.

Sarah has hands-on management as a veterinary nurse in various animal practices, looking after animals of all shapes and sizes.  She has also worked for national and multinational businesses in financial management.

Integrity, respect and responsibility are the pillars of Sarah’s character.  She takes pride in being an honest and hard working person and she will bring that zeal to the Office of Mayor of Limerick with your support.

Harnessing the potential of the Shannon

The newly directly elected Mayor will hold office for five years, offering huge opportunities for development across our City. The River Shannon is one of Limerick’s greatest assets. If elected, Aontú’s Sarah Beasley will work to open the river for boats all the way to Athlone. This would bring tourism and investment to our county and totally transform our city. Aontú will also work to refurbish the Black Bridge at Plassey, and we’d love to see people once again fishing for Salmon in our beautiful River Shannon.

Tacking Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour head on

Limerick has the potential to be the jewel in the crown of the west, but rising crime and anti-social behaviour has given the city a bad name. Aontú wish to tackle this by increasing the number of Gardaí on our streets, while also pushing youth programs to divert children and young people away from the attractions of a life of crime. Drug and alcohol addiction is a huge problem in Limerick, and we urgently need to see beds opened in St Joseph’s Hospital for people with addiction, and step-down facilities to ensure appropriate and smooth reintegration into society.

Sarah Beasley would also use the position of Mayor to promote awareness of the dangers of drugs and would work with schools to ensure children hear real stories from recovering addicts about the horrors of addiction and drug use.

Housing as a Right

Housing is Aontú’s number one priority. Since lockdown Sarah Beasley has been organising homeless outreaches from Aontú’s office on Thomas Street, every Monday night.

Sarah Beasley’s outreach provides food, clothes, tents and sleeping bags which have kindly been donated by the people and businesses in our city. Homelessness is very evident on O’Connell Street, Bedford Row, Catherine Street, William Street, Roaches Street and John’s Square. Figures obtained by Aontú under Freedom of Information show that as of last year there were 228 vacant council-owned houses across Limerick City and County. 

Sarah started a campaign: Open Up Our Houses whereby she calls on the local authority to do more to increase the turnaround time on properties that need to be renovated or that are boarded up. Aontú would unashamedly use the office of Mayor to put serious pressure on the council to turn around these properties as a matter of urgency so that progress can be made in reducing the housing waiting list. Getting these houses back into use is easy and cheap, they’re already publicly owned.

We will also continue to advocate the construction of more social and affordable houses. In rural areas planning regulations are crippling young couples and families who have to cut through a jungle of red tape before they can begin construction. Finally, the opacity of the phrase ‘Housing List’ which infers the organised allocation of a property to someone in need based on a next-in-line system. 

Barring special circumstances, a list should be exactly that, and anyone who is on the list should be able to find out exactly where they are on that list, rather than some to be left lingering years without so much as an offer while others, just weeks. This needs to change.

Defending our Health Services

The recent headlines relating to University Hospital Limerick showcase the absolute horror stories from patients and their loved ones. Years of underinvestment in terms of beds and staff and poor working conditions for nurses and staff, coupled with the closure of Ennis, has led to a hospital which is becoming an increasingly dangerous place. At the start of last year Sarah Beasley helped organise demonstrations at hospitals around the country to coincide with the protest in Limerick alongside Peadar Tóibín TD.

She will raise the issue of hospital overcrowding at every official engagement with management and government which would come with the office of Mayor. Sarah will also work to ensure that the Limerick Treaty Suicide Prevention group will be granted a council owned premises in the city to operate from.

Rural Priorities

Sarah promises to be a mayor for the city and the county. She is deeply concerned about the viability of farming as a way of life. Aontú stood with farmers throughout this region at the factory gates during the beef protests and party leader Peadar Tóibín TD even defended farmers in the High Court who were threatened with injunctions.

Aontú tabled the Equitable Beef Price Bill which seeks to ensure that factories and supermarkets must pay the farmer a fair price for produce. Sarah’s was the only political party to oppose the Climate Action Bill because she believes that Carbon Tax is an unfair punitive measure against farmers who are really struggling to survive. The greens have lost the run of themselves and need to be reined in. Sarah promises to fight for farmers and rural areas of Limerick, and to unashamedly defend them.

Animal Welfare

The provision of a full time ISPSCA Inspector for Limerick City is one of Sarah’s main priorities if elected for Mayor.  She is a qualified veterinary nurse with a degree in Veterinary Science and a long history of advocating for animal rights, who has co-written two Dáil Bills around Animal Theft and Animal Cruelty and brought local animal care charities up to Leinster House to highlight the plight of these animal welfare groups.

It is quite incredible that Limerick has been without a dedicated ISPCA Inspector for over five years.  There is a terrible legacy of animal abuse in Limerick and ISPCA staff have encountered serious problems including physical attacks, as they tried to go about their business protecting animals.  It is both heartbreaking and infuriating that this can happen.

Animal charities and shelters are doing their absolute best, but they are stretched to the limit. They are doing all they can to operate under these circumstances and continue to provide such a necessary service, but it is up to the Local Authority to ensure that an Inspector is employed and that he or she receives the absolute protection and support to do their job.
It goes without saying that ISPCA Inspectors should be protected and anyone threatening or trying to intimidate them should face the full rigours of the law. There needs to be protection for all those who in-turn protect our beautiful animals. 

We must bring about responsible ownership and stand solidly together against animal cruelty and neglect across the city and county.

A Champion for Accountability

We demand access to affordable rentals, privately built affordable housing, and social housing. It is unacceptable that public institutions can artificially drive-up housing prices by outbidding average homebuyers, leading to severe repercussions for everyone else.

This harmful practice jeopardises the ability of the next generation to enter the property market. While this issue may be beyond the scope of a mayoral role, we must acknowledge the actions of individuals like Sarah. As Chairperson of the Rhebogue Residents Association for the past 4 years, Sarah has been a vocal advocate, exposing instances of unlawful planning in Rhebogue. For instance, she shed light on the University of Limerick's overpayment, by literally millions of Euros, for housing units designated for affordable housing, favouring postgraduates instead.

As Mayor, she will have the power to hold those fostering such practices accountable. Such actions result in the exclusion of hardworking individuals striving to secure their own homes. Sarah is committed to increasing transparency in land and property transactions within Limerick. She pledges to uphold higher standards and safeguard public finances.