Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman and all the witnesses for coming in. As has been acknowledged, an awful lot of work went into the plebiscite and the delivery of a directly elected mayor of Limerick. It has been mentioned, particularly by Mr. Moran and Ms Ryan, that people were expecting much more and there must be much more. I pay tribute to Mr. Tim O'Connor and his committee, which sat for ten months, for its input and the work it put into this. That committee went further by suggesting functions relating to education, policing, agriculture and health should come back under the auspices of the mayor and the local authority. I am a little disappointed there has not been a wider scope around the position of the directly elected mayor. While it is an exciting opportunity and will be used as the template for directly elected mayors in other cities and counties, we must get it right, as previous speakers have said. Perhaps we need to suggest having an expansion of some of the powers to do with the mayor. I understand why the speaker is being suggested and that it should be from the councillors because obviously the mayor has to work with the councillors.

Returning to Dr. O'Malley's point on the city-county divide, I was elected to the council back in 2014 when it was amalgamated. At that stage, there very much was a city-county divide but it has been overcome and the council is working more closely together. I have always believed what is important in the city must involve in what is happening in Abbeyfeale or Kilmallock, so it is important to get that balance right. My understanding is that this county board has been put in in case people had a fear, but it should be included as one because we are one Limerick and it is one local authority. While we encompass a small bit of County Tipperary for general election purposes, we lost the part of County Clare two elections ago. It is really the whole city and county. There should be some mechanism found and I would love to hear the witnesses' views on how the city and county can be included as one or united as one. What are their views on the expansion of policing, education and health powers? Going back years, local authorities controlled those areas so that should be included in it. I would like to hear their thoughts on that.

The last point is funding, which Mr. Moran raised. This is going to be the equivalent of a Minister of State for Limerick. Usually Ministers of State have their own budgets and I cannot see anything in the documentation suggesting a budget will be available. My understanding of the legislation at the moment is that the mayor will have to go cap in hand to the different Departments. While it states there will be regular contact with Departments, the mayor will have to go to, say, the Department of Health or Social Protection looking for funding to run particular projects. If the mayor is given the budget to start with, he or she proposes it to the council and then the councillors, who, as has been rightly said, represent different areas, have the right to say that they need to spend X amount in such an area. I would like to hear the witnesses' views on that as well.