Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

We should be conscious that we are discussing the legislation. What the intentions are, what might happen otherwise or what Ministers or others might consider to be good practice are relevant but we are concerned with the wording of the legislation in front of us. The normal practice the Minister of State mentioned is not in any way expressed in the legislation. The legislation is short, distinct and clear and does not allow for any role for the mayor in the appointing of the four staff in the mayor's office. That is what we are talking about. As it is currently written, it is off the charts as regards what power and executive function the public would want a directly elected mayor to have. The idea that mayors would be able to appoint one out of five staff members in their office and, under the legislation, not have any role whatsoever in the appointment of the other four staff is off the charts.

We also need to think about the culture and the power local government has had traditionally in Ireland as opposed to in other countries. A comparison was made to the appointment of the staff in a Minister of State's office and the relationship of a Minister of State has with the Secretary General. That is quite different because we have highly centralised government where, in a general sense, the power of national government has been quite strong. I am sure we are all aware that the level of power of local government is one of the lowest in all of Europe and the OECD. There is an entire culture to consider and within that, the powers elected councillors have had. The elected representative part and the local democratic part of local government has been weak. That is the culture we are starting from so if the legislation does not reverse or change it, we will potentially have a weak directly elected mayor and people will be dissatisfied with that. After a number of years, they may ask what the point is if it does not make a difference. We need to be careful about explicitly writing into the legislation the function a directly elected mayor will have in appointing the direct staff in the mayor's office. If the power is not explicitly written into the legislation, as this amendment seeks to do, I fail to see how the mayor's role will develop into the kind of role everyone here is in favour of.