Dáil debates

Wednesday, 3 November 2010

Local Government (Mayor and Regional Authority of Dublin) Bill 2010: Second Stage

 

4:00 pm

Photo of John GormleyJohn Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

One only has to look across to London to see the success of Ken Livingstone and, latterly, Boris Johnston, to know that a mayor can have a significant impact on a capital city. I hope that future Dublin mayors will lead and inspire as these individuals have, albeit in less troubled circumstances.

Political institutions must evolve. I intend that the Dublin mayor's powers will evolve over time, in line with the experience of the office. A specific mechanism is being provided to facilitate this. The Bill provides for a statutory review process, within two years, of the objectives and functions of the authority, and the needs and administration of the region as a basis for possible amendments to the underpinning legislation. The review, to be conducted by the Minister and the mayor, will provide an opportunity for the mayor to make proposals to maximise efficiencies and achieve best value for money for the citizens and business of Dublin.

As is customary, I wish to give an overview of some of the main provisions not already mentioned. With a Bill of 179 sections I do not propose to attempt a comprehensive synopsis of all the provisions and will, accordingly, take the many standard or technical legal provisions as read.

I move to Part 2 of the Bill which provides for the introduction of a directly elected mayor of Dublin, the establishment of the regional authority of Dublin and related matters. The usual disqualifications apply, including for Ministers and Ministers of State. A Member of the Oireachtas or a Member of the European Parliament may stand for election but will cease to be a member of the Dáil, Seanad, or European Parliament, on being elected as mayor. The mayor will be obliged to prepare a strategy statement within six months of election, specifying key objectives, outputs and related strategies, as is the case with other public bodies.

The regional authority will consist of 16 members, including the mayor, who will be the ex officio chair. The cathaoirligh of the four Dublin local authorities will be ex officio members of the authority during their terms of office. The objectives of the regional authority include the sustainable development of the Dublin region, greater efficiency in the provision of local government services in the region, greater co-ordination and co-operation between public and private sector bodies, the promotion of the Dublin region as a desirable location in which to live, work and invest, and greater co-ordination in the development of the Dublin and mid-east regions.

The general functions of the authority are listed in section 18 of the Bill. These include the establishment of strategic policy frameworks for the Dublin region and oversight of their implementation; reviewing the environmental, physical, economic, social and cultural environment in the Dublin region; promoting co-operation, joint action and joint arrangements between the authority and public and other bodies; promoting enterprise and innovation in the Dublin region; and evaluating public service provision in the region, including improving service co-ordination.

There is specific provision for a chief executive of the authority and standard type provisions relating to staffing. The mayor may personally appoint up to five members of staff with relevant experience and expertise for the duration of the mayor's term of office. Local authorities may provide staff and services subject to conditions in the legislation.

Part 3 of the Bill provides for the strategic regional functions of the mayor and the regional authority. Under sections 37 to 45, the mayor will have the power to initiate the preparation of regional planning guidelines, for adoption by the regional authority of Dublin and the mid-east regional authority. If the authorities fail to make appropriate guidelines, there will be power for the mayor to do so, subject to specified requirements.

Sections 46 to 51 provide for the preparation by the mayor of draft waste management plans to be made formally by the regional authority of Dublin, in place of the four local authority managers. As in the case of regional planning guidelines, there is a default power for the mayor to make the plan in lieu of the authority, where necessary. The local authorities will be required to take necessary steps to attain the objectives of the plan.

Sections 52 and 53 contain similar provisions for the making of a water services strategic plan for the Dublin region by the regional authority on a proposal from the mayor who, again, will have default power to make the plan in accordance with the provisions of the Bill.

Part 4 of the Bill contains provisions relating to housing and transport. Sections 56 to 63 set out the role of the mayor and the regional authority in regard to transport planning for the Dublin region which is of particular significance given the hitherto somewhat restricted sectoral role of local government in Ireland. The National Transport Authority, NTA, must consult the regional authority in regard to a draft transport strategy. The mayor will chair a 12-person greater Dublin area transport council within the NTA, which will oversee and approve the preparation of a transport strategy for the greater Dublin area by the NTA, and similarly with the NTA's strategic traffic management plan for the area. The council will monitor the implementation of the transport strategy, the NTA's integrated implementation plan and the strategic traffic management plan in respect of the greater Dublin area, and may make recommendations to the NTA in that regard and on the performance of the NTA's functions generally in respect of the greater Dublin area.

Part 5 of the Bill provides for a significant range of specific powers and functions which will further underpin the role of the mayor. Section 65 empowers the mayor to give a direction to Dublin local authorities to ensure compliance with regional planning guidelines, a waste management plan or a water services strategic plan. The mayor may also issue advice or guidelines to the local authorities to which they must have regard.

Section 68 empowers the mayor to make recommendations in regard to local authority budgets and the manager and the local authority will be legally obliged to have regard to these. Should a local authority choose not to adopt a recommendation it must attach a statement to its budget giving the reasons for its decision.

Under section 69, the mayor may direct two or more local authorities to form a joint committee and to delegate specified local authority functions to it. In addition, section 70 empowers the mayor to direct, following consultation with the authorities concerned, that a particular local authority function be performed by one local authority on behalf of another. The mayor may also direct that two or more local authorities enter into an agreement for the joint discharge of a function and local authorities are legally obliged to comply with these directions. Section 70 empowers the Mayor to direct, following consultation with the authorities concerned, that a particular local authority function be performed by one local authority on behalf of another. The mayor may also direct that two or more local authorities enter into an agreement for the joint discharge of a function and local authorities are legally obliged to comply with these directions.

The mayor may establish a voluntary community fund for the purposes of providing financial support to community undertakings in the Dublin region, such as recreational or cultural facilities, and promoting community development or full participation in society by disadvantaged people. The authority may accept gifts and engage in fund-raising for this purpose. Normal accountability requirements are applied in relation to community funds. This part of the Bill also requires the Mayor to report to each of the Dublin local authorities on relevant matters and account for his or her performance at annual meetings.

Part 6 contains a number of provisions to ensure consistency between national policies and the policies of the regional authority. This involves provision for the issue of ministerial guidelines, policy directives and mandatory directions, where appropriate, in regard to the performance of functions under the legislation in terms of planning, waste and water. Sections 78 and 79 provide protection to so-called whistleblowers reporting an offence, breach of ethics legislation or other wrongdoing in regard to a local authority, and prohibit employers from penalising or threatening penalisation against such employees, unless a person has acted in bad faith.

Part 7, which sets out electoral provisions, accounts for a substantial portion of the legislation running from sections 80 to 172, inclusive. Members may be relieved to hear that I do not propose to attempt even a cursory summary of these since they are standard provisions. I will only observe that they reflect clearly the fact that the office of mayor of Dublin and regional authority of Dublin will be integral parts of the statutory infrastructure of local democracy.

The remaining provisions of the Bill, contained in Part 8, address the dissolution of the existing regional authority and consequential matters, and the two Schedules, dealing respectively with meetings and procedures rules and the form of the ballot paper for mayoral elections, are largely technical and do not require comment in the context of this overview. Some further provisions will be added on Committee Stage, as drafting had not been finalised for publication of the Bill, for example, provisions in respect of placenames, including provisions dealing with the Dingle issue.

This Bill constitutes the first important tranche of the initiatives set out in the Government's programme for the development of the local government system and follows the publication in September of the report of the Limerick local government committee, which the Government will be considering soon. The main body of proposals for local government reform and development will be set out in the White Paper on local government. A Cabinet committee is finalising the White Paper, which will address and present agreed Government policy on a wide range of local government matters, including the primacy of democratic leadership in local authorities; local government structures, including town local government; regional governance; and the funding of the local government system.

I Intend to publish the White Paper as soon as possible following completion of the Government's deliberations. The findings and recommendations in the report of the independent local government efficiency review group, published in mid-July, are being considered by me, and by the Government. Alongside the introduction of the Dublin mayor, efficiency measures and other savings of over €500 million will be pursued across the entire local government sector arising from the review group's report and related initiatives. This is on top of the €300 million in savings already achieved by local authorities in the past two years.

In Dublin alone, these savings will be significant. As recently as last week, I established an independent group to review the staffing complement in Dublin City Council. The independent group will review the staffing complement in Dublin city and recommend, within six months, action to reduce staffing in line with the recommendations of the review group report with particular emphasis on the number of senior managers.

This is very important legislation. I am aware that the proposal to establish a directly elected regional mayor has met with a degree of scepticism from some quarters. This, I believe, arises from a combination of misunderstanding, fear that a mayor with a popular mandate might pose a threat to some power bases and an innate sense of conservatism in Irish public affairs. That conservatism is manifested, for example, in a tendency not to encourage risk-taking but rather to punish relatively minor failure that is often a natural companion of enterprise. Above all, it is reflected in the failure of many of our political systems and institutions to develop to any significant degree since the foundation of the State or, in the case of local government, since the 19th century.

However, conservatism did not save us from recklessness in the past. It has largely been a conservatism, not of prudence, but of complacency. The severe effects of that recklessness will force us to abandon such complacency. We must innovate in many sectors - in enterprise, technology and in public affairs. The Dublin mayor will be an important element of necessary innovation in public administration, and a spearhead for the wider changes that will flow from the White Paper when it is published.

The Government's programme of June 2007, states that "we will introduce a directly elected mayor for Dublin with executive powers by 2011". I am very happy to bring this commitment a step closer to its fulfilment and I commend the Bill to the House.

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