Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

You should never challenge a Limerick man because he is always up to the challenge and will always win.

Getting back to the point at hand, when Deputies are elected to this House and are appointed as Ministers for a Department, they can have their personal assistants, PAs, with them, but they do not have any choice about who is the head of the Department they are over. This is the same as the mayor. We have heard many people who became Ministers say that they are happy with the Department but they would like to change one thing. The heads of the Department will say they are the heads of the Departments, Ministers are only elected for a few years and will demand the Ministers do things their way. When the mayor comes to Limerick, I will not be happy unless the mayor does things his or her way.

The mayor can appoint a special adviser. That is fine. I agree with that. If I wanted to run for mayor tomorrow morning, I would build up an office of brilliant, capable staff in County Limerick. If I were to be elected mayor, I would like to bring them with me. I am being told that I would be on the interview panel for the four people who will be around me if I am elected mayor, but I would not have the overall choice. This is what I am coming to. Mistakes have been made by Governments for years with Departments. We are talking about Limerick having the first directly elected mayor. Is it not time we had change and try something new? Fresh eyes often bring better practices into something.

I would be happy enough with a 50:50 mix, but I am not happy with 100%. Mayors should be in charge of appointing at least two members of their team and should be able to bring in some other staff outside that if they so wish. They will be the mayor of Limerick City and County Council so they should have the choice. Choices should be not be made for them. They are either there to lead or they are not. The first thing when it comes to the role of the mayor is that they are there to lead. Mayors are also there to bring in changes and new practices. If people are not brought in from the outside - new staff - there will not be any changes or new practices, which would mean things can get better.

If you are within a system, they say you have to stay within the system. I agree with my colleagues here and I am not happy with the wording of the legislation. We are here to discuss legislation. We are not here to come back and amend it. The legislation should state that the mayor, whoever they are, should have a choice to have at least 50% of the surrounding team on the first floor.