Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. The people of Limerick will never give up an opportunity presented to them and we will do our best to make this work. For everybody in Limerick, whether they grew up where I did, in Ballynanty, or in Ballysteen out in the county, we will all benefit from a directly-elected mayor. As I said, the vote was close so it is important that we bring along those people who, for whatever reasons, did not vote for this and get them enthused about why a mayor will be really good for Limerick.

I have a quick question about additional plebiscites the Minister of State envisages and he might clarify what he was speaking about there. He talked about 20% of registered voters. I personally think that is very high. I do not want to be political about it here but the electoral register is not in the best shape. There are lots of people on it who are dead, have moved or emigrated so it could probably be higher, at 25% or 30%. That is quite a significant number of people to get involved before the election can even be had. We are lucky to get 50% turnout in local elections. Will the Minister of State consider reducing that or will significant work be done on the register to ensure it is accurate before we look at additional local authorities having plebiscites on mayors? I ask because I am sure we in Limerick will get this right and they will all want to copy us.