Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It came from an implementation group comprising all stakeholders, including councillors. One of the recommendations on evolving towards a directly elected mayor was that the office to which the Deputy is referring would provide further cohesion in working with councillors. Ultimately, everyone has to work together on this. I have an open mind on it. It has been put forward constructively and I cannot see how it is a negative. It allows the mayor to get into the policy space and drive Limerick in this regard. That is what it is about. If the mayor does only what the cathaoirleach has been doing to date, the role will not bring added value.