Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Thanks to everyone for all the work they have done on this. I have been a strong supporter of a directly elected mayor for Dublin. When the consultation was happening a number of years ago I was a councillor on Fingal County Council. I was one of the few councillors who voted for a plebiscite so that people could have a say in this. I was the only councillor in the Chamber who spoke in favour of a plebiscite. I am still in favour of the idea. It would be strange to have a situation where we start off having a democratically elected mayor for Dublin, strengthening local democracy but all that being done without actually asking people if they want it and starting off by giving it that kind of democratic legitimacy. Given the plebiscite results we have had in other cities, we cannot take it for granted that people want it.

On the point that Deputy Ó Broin brought up, for a plebiscite to succeed there needs to a lot of information. Ideally a general scheme of a Bill or more than that would be very useful so that people would know what they were voting on. That would mean we would not get to a plebiscite for a significant amount of time because of the work that would have to be done. In order to get this right, is it worth having a fairly fully formed proposal that goes to people? Is it worth waiting a year or more, which is how long it could take to get a general scheme prepared? It would be good to get a few different views on this.