Dr. Aodh Quinlivan:

On the directly elected mayor issue, there would be no necessity for a directly elected mayor in towns. It comes back to the overall idea behind local government that I mentioned with regard to delivering services and the more democratic benefit. The model that is always trotted out is France with its 36,000 communes. When I was an undergraduate 35 years ago, people were talking about France having 36,000 communes, and it still has them. In most countries the pressure has been to merge and abolish local authorities. If one tried to abolish the local town council in France, there would be war. The French are very happy to work together to deliver services but they need their own council and mayor.

I was in a place two summers ago with 27 inhabitants that had a mayor, a town hall and a guide with a sash. They were very proud-----