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

I hope that on as many occasions as possible today I have used the phrase "he or she". I apologise. When talking about the position of mayor, my language may sometimes slip. I hope the work I am doing with our female councillors, giving them the human rights they deserve and have been denied for so long in terms of maternity leave, and my work with Women for Election, will demonstrate my commitment to our female members and female councillors. I really look forward to the next Dáil in which, hopefully, we will have a lot more women Members, more women candidates and more diversity due to local elections, and specifically because of the measures I have taken in recent months and proposed to take in the months ahead.

All the HR functions and the local authority staffing matters, with the exception of the special adviser, will rest with the director of services. It would not be a role for the mayor. That is for very good reason in the context of the specific staffing matters.

On the elections, my job is to try to guide the Bill though the legislative process. Up until last week, the Dáil has been sitting for only two days per week. It is gathering pace now. I acknowledge the Office of the Attorney General for giving us a drafter for this and for prioritising it. We are working as fast as we can. From talking with and listening to other members, I am keen to really get this right. I want to get a good balance between getting it right and not overly rushing it, but I also want to see it happening as soon as possible. This is so important. We do not want any undue delays but I want to get it right. We will really try to do that.

The Senator made a good point, and identified the kernel of the issue, in the context of additionality and what we can start with on day one. In other words, when the new mayor is in situ, when he or she will be able to say "These are my powers"? Of the 69 recommendations, 38 are in this general scheme. A further ten are partially addressed within the general scheme and we are working hard on the remainder. As this process is going on, we are engaging with other Departments to try, insofar as we can, to get additional powers. I highlight the fact that some powers will be difficult to get. One or two will be very challenging, for example, conferring specific rights in respect of national funding streams. We hope that we will see significant powers coming from some of the other Departments. One significant power relates to climate action and the infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians. There are a lot of budgets to oversee in that regard. I would hope to have the lion's share of the recommendations in the report for the mayor. There is also a review mechanism built in whereby we can monitor how things are going and by means of which we can add in more powers later on. My hope and aim is to have as many as possible in situon day one. I would value the committee members' assistance in doing that.