Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Mitchell for her engagement with the process. I acknowledge that she has been constructive, as have other members of her party.

On the powers of councillors, I am very keen that they keep their reserved powers. This is why there is an essential tenet to robustly hold the mayor to account. This is going to be key in how this process works out on the ground. Councillors powers will remain unchanged.

The cathaoirleach of the council will step into the role as príomh comhairleoir, which is articulated in the heads of the general scheme. In essence, the mayor takes his duties outside the council chamber. That is key. He will represent Limerick nationally and internationally and will be a beacon for the county in the context of putting it on the international stage, which can only add significant value to the area.

The question on the budget is very interesting. I will explain how it came about. In the original proposal, a two thirds super-majority was required to reject a budget, but the implementation advisory group and all the various stakeholders and actors in Limerick got together and felt that in the spirit of the way Limerick works and engages, and given its history of good working relationships, it would be better to have just a simple majority for passing the budget. We decided that adopting that recommendation from the implementation advisory group was the way to proceed. I am sure that, going forward, that will be the case. It is important to note that the new democratically elected executive head - the new elected mayor - will have to put the programme for Limerick to the councillors and that its approval would require majority support. If we were to opt for a super-majority in this regard, it might create unnecessary tensions within the working relationship and the dynamic that exists between the parties in Limerick. This is a good start and we were happy to listen to all the stakeholders, who represented a really broad base of society. They included the students' union, the chamber of commerce and the directly elected councillors. We had a great base there.

At present, the capital budget per annum for Limerick is €217 million. It is not far shy of €500 million when revenue and capital are taken into consideration. We will be in negotiations with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform with a plan for the new mayor of Limerick. The implementation advisory group is very clear that the mayor needs to deliver on the mandate for Limerick. As we progress through the legislative process we will be engaging with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and with other stakeholders to try to get as many powers and as significant a budget as we can, to give them the best start there. We have a number of capital envelopes to which we expect the mayor's office will have access. These are set out by the implementation advisory group.

On head 40, the mayor is to be the mayor for Limerick county as well as for the city. This is why I referred to the matter in my opening contribution. We would expect that the measures to be derived from the rural development policy for the period 2021 to 2025 will be included in negotiations with the Department of Rural and Community Development and will link in with it so that the mayor will have strong ties in delivering for rural Limerick also. This is so important in the process.