Professor Deiric Ó Broin:

The Deputy raised a fair concern about the potential to politicise the process, whereby it becomes a regular plaything. Building on Dr. O'Malley's point, however, what we are seeing is potentially a significant shift in political culture. There will be a period of settling down when our political class will have to get used to a new system. That is a challenge because we have never tried anything like this previously. When Dr. O'Malley highlights the uniqueness of this in Irish political culture, he is not underestimating it. This is such a significant cultural shift. It will take a considerable time to bed down. We have highlighted what we see as the legalistic nature of the removal process. I am still inclined to take the view that considerable effort has been spent on thinking through the removal of a mayor in a way that we do not tend to see in other legislation. It is quite stunning in that regard.