Mr. John A. Moran:

I thank the committee to the opportunity to share views about the proposed legislation. It is an honour to represent the committee and supporters of Liveable Limerick, who fought hard back in 2019 to explain the concept to the people of Limerick and campaigned for the successful "Yes" vote with Senator Maria Byrne.

I will go through various points. I submitted a detailed document to the committee. I apologise for the lateness in doing so; we only knew we were appearing before the committee late last week. There are a lot of serious issues at stake. I also know from having appeared before a number of committees that members are anxious to get to the questioning, so I will just go through the highlights now.

I gauged the legislation by focusing on the following question: are the people of Limerick finally going to be trusted and given the powers and budget to guide their own destiny or are we still going to have the dead hand of centralised power in Dublin, holding back Limerick and other regional cities and counties by making sure that the reform cannot work? I am guided, in that respect, by three principles contained in the Government paper published in March 2019. The first is that if there is going to be a mayor, it must add value. Second is the subsidiarity principle, whereby national governments should not take action where action can take place at the regional or local level. Third, is the need to empower the local elected representatives as much as possible. When the legislation is gauged in that context, I hate to say it, but as drafted at the moment, and it needs significant change, this legislation betrays the people of Limerick and other regional cities.

Having been there, the 2019 plebiscite was a vote for real change, local power and local budget. In 400 pages of text that are before the Oireachtas, no new powers or new budget decision-making powers are being transferred. Dublin is making vague promises of a better future but when the legislation is analysed, one can see a continuing micromanagement of matters in Limerick and a tying up of the local administration. To me, it is clear that legislators and those drafting the legislation do not trust the people of Limerick to manage their own affairs, which is most disappointing. At the plebiscite in 2019, there was so much promise for the reform local government in Ireland and a new structure to deliver to Limerick if Limerick wanted it. As members will be aware, Limerick voted for change. I was trying to think of an analogy as to what it feels like. I came up with the idea that it feels like a teenager coming of age and expecting a special present for their birthday that recognises they have grown up. Yet, when they open their present, they find a voucher for clothes or schoolbooks from their parents.

In a sense, the legislation kicks the can down the road. It is time to stop doing that. We have had enough conversation and waiting. Limerick, similar to other regional cities, is still suffering and needs a new holistic management structure to deliver, solve the housing problems and address unemployment blackspots. We can do that with a real transfer of power and budget. On the other hand, if the legislation is enacted in its current form, we will essentially create a new role of the most important taxpayer-paid lobbyist in Ireland. That is a total waste of a politician with the second most important electoral mandate the country, who will essentially become a lobbyist who turns up to his own forum. I am not even sure who will need to be there and turn up. As we all know, many Oireachtas Members have been lobbying hard for Limerick in this respect. It seems that now is the time for a transfer of powers, without which this proposal is just a damp squib.

We need to look through the legislation and make some real decisions. I studied law in UCD the 1980s and during my time as Secretary General at the Department of Finance, I read much legislation. I must conclude, and give credit where it is due, that this text is a mastery of drafting. It gives the impression of being very radical, but in truth, reforms are not really offered or come with important brakes. We can get a sense of that by counting the pages of the text. The important part concerns what the mayor can do. There are no pages relating to funding, 12 pages setting out the functions on the mayor, and a whopping 222 pages that discuss the procedural issues involved in the process of running the election. We can see where the emphasis was in drafting the legislation.

There have been delays that are going to frustrate the electorate's choice because development plans are being completed as we speak and might be in place before the mayor is elected. Essentially, Limerick voted for a transfer in concentration of power. Once more, the Government in Dublin is not going forward with that and delivering a real transfer of power. On that basis, we need to stop the centralisation of power that is continuing. We need to look at the way the Government has rowed back from what Limerick was promised in the plebiscite, which was strong political power through a multi-year mayor as leader of the chamber. It has not adopted the finely balanced proposals of the consultation group, which recommended the devolution of more power and the establishment of a much more innovative political counterbalance with the installation of the Cathaoirleach of the council chamber. Instead, there are limits on the powers the mayor, who will have less power than the CEO has today, and all the extra brakes on the mayor's ability to do what he needs to do. It sounds like the mayor will have to come to Dublin with a begging bowl, looking for money and power when they need to be transferred.

I am worried that we are going to end up with confusion and bureaucracy and more slowing down. That is in comparison with the potential in 2019 that was extensive and exciting. I differ in opinion from Dr. O'Malley. I am happy to talk about that. The "One Limerick" approach and the fact that it has that full county aspect is very positive. More important, we are now saying that Limerick is asking the Government whether or not it really trusts Limerick to make decisions, figure out who the mayor should be and what powers they should have in the allocation of budget. Limerick wants to be able to trust Dublin that it will deliver on the promise it made back in 2019.

As legislators, committee members know better than anybody else that it is hard to legislate for real reform. Vested interests always fear they are losing control. The conservatives fear the unknown and well-intentioned proposals, if badly drafted, can end up being more dangerous and divisive. In my submission, I have provided a series of examples of problems with the legislation. I worry that while it is important to acknowledge the problems of rural Limerick, the rural Limerick board is another example of mandated micromanagement and a lack of trust. It could be argued that housing is a bigger problem in Limerick, so we should have a housing board. We know that the mayor will not have enough powers. There are provisions for the transfer of more powers, but we should call a spade a spade: with this legislation, the mayor will have less power than the CEO at present. Therefore, it is a long way from what was promised in 2019. There are difficulties because the mayor-----