Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)

It has been said that opportunity is missed by most because it is dressed in overalls and looks like hard work. This Bill represents one such a missed opportunity. Making the legislation relevant, ambitious and groundbreaking was and is possible, but that would have required the Minister to do his homework, ready the ground and be prepared to ruffle a few feathers along the way. Obviously, that option looked far too much like hard work and the Minister has chosen the easy option. He has taken a good and meritorious concept, that of a directly elected mayor of Dublin with real powers and a meaningful role, and managed to turn it into a farcical position, one with all the trappings of high office but none of the reforms that are so badly needed. According to Deputy Kitt, people have complained that this is not the right time. It is not simply a question of timing, as there is never a wrong time if a proposition is the right one, but the Minister's proposal on behalf of the Government is inadequate.

Let me be clear. This legislation presents us with significant opportunities. It is a sad day in the House when the expediency and strange political myopia of the Green Party and the Minister, Deputy Gormley, have prevented him from seeing and grasping these opportunities. Let us explore some of the opportunities for reform that have been missed by the Bill. There is an opportunity to give the mayor substantial powers to drive the Dublin region as an economic hub. There is an opportunity to make substantial savings by reforming and reducing the overburdened bureaucracy associated with local government, not just in Dublin but throughout the country. There is an opportunity to tackle the considerable funding deficit at local government level by introducing a sustainable and long-term funding mechanism, namely, rates, a word that no Minister wants to utter but about which someone will need to do something. There is an opportunity to take action to salvage the much maligned business sector inside and outside Dublin, which is being crucified by local charges and commercial rates. There is an opportunity to provide for substantial powers and full accountability in respect of elected representatives at local government level. There is an opportunity to eliminate powerless and wasteful local councils and to replace them with proper devolved regional assemblies, ones with powers on the scale of Stormont's in the North. This is the type of serious reform that we need, but which the Minister has failed to recognise in this paltry legislation.

I am a supporter of the concept of a directly elected mayor. A mayor of Dublin elected by the people for the people represents a significant opportunity to transform the fortunes of the capital city. It offers us a chance to showcase and drive the economic hub of this country, namely, Dublin. With almost a third of the country's population and more than half of the country's GDP centred in the region, it is imperative that we fuel it as the country's economic engine. Not since the foundation of the State has Ireland needed leadership and political drive so badly. The introduction of direct democracy with direct accountability to the people should offer us a chance to develop a credible economic recovery plan for Dublin and, consequently, the entire country. A mayor who is directly accountable to the people could and should prove to be the driving force that the city and the country badly need.

So-called democracy at a local level is a complete farce. One could say that democracy at the national level is also a farce, but perhaps we will not deviate in that direction this evening. Local government in the Dublin region and the rest of the country is deliberately weak, ill-defined and rife with duplication. Dublin has four local authorities, as well recounted by my colleagues on this side of the House. Between them, Dublin City Council, South Dublin County Council, Fingal County Council and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council employ approximately 10,000 staff and command a budget of approximately €2.5 billion. Each of these councils is directed by a city or county manager, the people in whom all executive powers are vested. There is no shortage of bureaucrats running the city and the region, but to whom or even whether they are accountable is questionable. Sadly, this legislation will not change that situation one jot.

Accountability should be the critical appeal of a directly elected mayor of Dublin. A candidate for the mayoralty would need to set out his or her stall and energise us with ambitious proposals and goals for the city and with plans for regional development. Candidates would be assessed on their capacity not only to project good ideas, but to deliver for the city. They would be judged on their implementation of their policies and agendas, which should be an incentive to deliver results. Unfortunately, the absence of real mayoral powers, the fact that it will be another layer duplicating four existing mayors and given that the mayor will have no revenue-raising or tax-and-spend powers will undermine the objective and make it a nonsense.

It is unbelievable that the introduction of legislation to elect a mayor of Dublin ignores the dire need to reform local government. Ireland has too many local authorities and local councillors. Power is too concentrated in central government and unelected and unaccountable officials. Any attempt to bring direct democracy to the Dublin region cannot and will not work unless it is done in conjunction with a serious effort to reform and overhaul the entire system. People have no appetite for more layers of bureaucracy. They do not want to hear about the further wasting of public moneys or about ceremonial and honorary positions. They want real and meaningful roles, delivery and results. The creation of the new office of the mayor, together with the elimination of duplication at local and regional level, could transform the city, but we know that this is not what is being proposed. This is simply yet another layer of bureaucracy. There is no proposal to streamline, to reform or to eliminate waste. The Bill actually does the opposite.

The Government should abolish the four existing Dublin local authorities. I was proud to serve as a member of Dublin City Council but, if we are serious about making government work, we must acknowledge the need to get rid of small local authorities, to reduce the number of councillors and to make regional governance work, not simply on the basis of false artificial boundaries for the purpose of drawing down EU funding, but to deliver for the people and to serve their needs. How is it that Dublin, with its total population of more than 1 million people, has four councils and 130 councillors?

In contrast, the city of New York has a population of 8.3 million and 52 city councillors. They manage to work with a much less burdened bureaucracy and many fewer elected representatives but they do their job properly and efficiently, and it works. That is the model to which we should aspire.

See this speech in context