Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will speak to Deputy O'Callaghan's amendment No. 84 first. I agree that 20% is way too high. While the figure of 20% does not sound too high, it would be very high if you actually have to go out and get it. Looking at Limerick, when we had the referendum or plebiscite on the directly elected mayor, the turnout was about 50%. Approximately 70,000 people voted on that. If you double that for the electorate, it would be about 150,000 people, and 20% of that is 30,000 people. I challenge anybody to get 30,000 signatures on something like having a directly elected mayor. If we had to do that in Limerick, for instance, we would not be having a plebiscite, so I suggest we put it down to 10%. That would be difficult enough to get as well, if we are honest, but it is achievable, whereas 20% is probably not achievable.

Amendment No. 88 is to change not later than two years to not later than 12 months. The reason we are doing that is to ensure the report is presented to the Oireachtas not later than 12 months after a successful plebiscite. This comes from experience in Limerick. There will be almost a five-year delay between the plebiscite in Limerick and the event of the first directly elected mayor. Regarding the appetite for that position, I genuinely believe that if the referendum were held today, and I hate to say this, unfortunately, it probably would be defeated. The sense I have got in recent weeks is people are just not interested anymore. With plebiscites in other areas, such a report would need to be presented to the Oireachtas a year after the plebiscite and not delayed any further. I think we made a critical mistake. There were mitigating factors, such as the Covid pandemic in the middle of it. There are reasons people are disengaged with it. I think the appetite for it did not really exist anyway because, as I said, it only narrowly passed. We are now dealing with the reaction I have had from people in the past couple of days, which is that the Bill is weak and it was not what they were promised by the previous Minister of State with responsibility for the area, Deputy John Paul Phelan, during and after the campaign. However, we are where we are. I suggest we change two years to 12 months, and that is one of the reasons I am suggesting to do so.