Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

-----and leave my constituency, he will have all my good will and he knows that.

The Minister needs to return to the House to outline the powers of the office. The position should carry more powers. The Minister has risen to the points made about the confusion that might exist in having a directly elected mayor of Dublin, the positions held by the mayors of the local authority areas of south Dublin, Fingal and Dún Laoghaire and the position of Lord Mayor of the city. The question of the occupation of the Mansion House has cleared up some of the confusion but other views have been expressed that must be addressed. I hope the Minister will continue to give this Bill and these aspects of it his attention. He needs to tell us the powers a mayor will have.

I mentioned that I am a fan of the position. Major cities in the world have proved that having a major is a good idea. I had the opportunity during recent years of meeting Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson, the former and current London Mayor, respectively. I note they will run head to head again for the position in the next election. Both of them did the job and demonstrated the manner in which a directly elected mayor can operate. It is important that the Minister understands the concerns of those of us who believe that the position, which is shrouded in controversy, should have real powers. I hope he will deal with those issues.

I read media speculation recently that there are issues to be dealt with in regard to the future transport needs of the city and how a mayor would deal with that issue. It is important that point is made. The transport needs of the city are particularly important. I use public transport when I can, although it is not always possible because of the nature of what we do. If I leave Leinster House to go back to Tallaght, I can walk down to O'Connell Street, jump on the Luas and go straight to Tallaght - no problem. However, if I want to go to other parts of my constituency - I do not have the same challenges as other colleagues in that I do not have to travel 60 miles across my constituency because, like other Dublin constituencies, it is quite small although it has a high population density - such as Crumlin, Walkinstown-----

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