Dr. Eoin O'Malley:

Four of the five staff given to a mayor are going to be chosen for him or her by the director general. That is not necessarily a good thing. A director general who wants to weaken a mayor in some way would be able to hand over four duds, perhaps. A fifth person is in the gift of the mayor. Five staff does not seem like a large number if one looks at the various different roles we are asking the mayor to carry out. It might make more sense to give the mayor's office more control over staffing rather than just depending on what the director general chooses to give him or her.