Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I compliment the Minister of State. It is not often that a Minister of State quotes the programme for Government back to me. Normally, we quote it to the Minister and ask for it to be implemented. He is right; I had not realised 20% is specifically stated in the programme for Government. The spirit of that particular clause was that if the local authority was acting as a barrier, there would be a mechanism for the general populace to try to demand it. Let us be honest; many local councillors do not wish to see a directly elected mayor because there are individual opportunities they may want to pursue. In the rush to develop a programme for Government, the detail is not always spot on. A total of 20% seems to undermine the point of the drafters. On Report Stage, we may look at some mechanism to allow a lower number. It may as well not be in there at all because to get 50% of potential turnout without a campaign to sign a petition is insurmountable. We may develop an alternative mechanism to allow the public to trigger it but that mechanism does not achieve the objective of what we are trying to do.