Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)

-----and some of the substantial issues in terms of what this legislation is about. We are all citizens of this city, of which we are all proud, and we are also proud to be public representatives, in my case and that of Deputies O'Connor and Ó Snodaigh, in Dublin constituencies. I welcome the opportunity to speak on this legislation both as a citizen of the city and as a public representative for a constituency.

The proposal is one that I and the Labour Party support in general but not in its current format. Unfortunately, it leaves much to be desired in terms of detail and setting out what the levels of responsibilities and accountability will be. It is sufficiently flawed as it stands to make it ineffective and if it were to go ahead it could be counterproductive. What is clearly required is an office that is accountable to the electorate and that has statutory instruments available to it to address all the aspects of governing a 21st century city region but this Bill clearly do not provide for that. We are dealing with a very developed city in many ways in which there has been huge progress, a huge increase in population and great diversity but many challenges have to faced. Unless they are clearly spelled out in regard to the role and responsibilities of an elected mayor we are possibly duplicating much of what is already in place but we have not been given a formula from which we can expect to operate and to know precisely what those responsibilities area.

The Dublin city and county area is the home to more than 1.1 million people but the greater Dublin area, which takes in the local authority areas of Dublin as well as those of Kildare, Meath and Wicklow, has a population of the order of 1.6 million. Therefore, we are talking about a substantial area in terms of population. The region is the gateway to our country, our administrative centre and it is largely the driver of the economy because of the scale of it. The fundamental issues we face in the city and the region relating to water services, waste management, land use and transportation policy are all regional issues. For this reason we must have the governance structures in place to effectively co-ordinate their provision.

As Dublin is unique in Ireland due to its relative size, its challenges are also unique and an office with effective powers and responsibilities to drive the development of the city and the region is required. However, what is proposed in this Bill is one layer of bureaucracy that will be placed on top of the existing local governance system without addressing any of the underlying issues. These range from devolving more responsibility to local elected representatives and addressing the issue of duplication of responsibility with regard to governance functions and the fundamental issue of funding of local government. That issue of exactly how local government is to be funded is becoming more acute, especially in the current climate. There is a critical need to ensure such funding is available and can be delivered to keep our local government areas working effectively.

We need a results driven system where the decision makers are accountable to the electorate as the existing system of part-time councillors trying to interact with full-time professionals does little for democratic accountability. What is essentially being proposed is grafting an electoral mayoral office onto the existing system of councils, county manager and a regional authority. It is a top-down approach that promises a substantial amount but, ultimately, delivers little when one delves into the detail that is described. Local government reform is a far more pressing issue than introducing a flawed Bill for a mayor office to satisfy the demands of a Government coalition partner.

One of the most striking flaws in the Bill is that the proposed mayor will have planning powers over counties where residents will not have a right to vote in the mayoral election. Land use and transportation are among the most important issues over which the proposed post of elected mayor will have powers. For the office of the mayor to be effective in co-ordinating land use and transportation policy, it must intervene in areas outside the Dublin city and county area. How will the residents of these areas feel about tough planning policy being prepared on their behalf by someone for whom they are not entitled to vote? This failing in the legislation leaves open the possibility of a perceived Dublin bias among residents in these areas who may believe policy is being formulated for the benefit of Dublin rather than their countries. The legitimacy of the proposed office will come into question on this basis.

Much like the intention to create the Dublin transportation authority, which quickly morphed into the National Transportation Authority, the Bill is being moved with excessive haste and fundamental issues are being overlooked in the interests of political expediency. We have an opportunity to create an accountable and effective office for the region which would form the basis for similar offices in other urban areas. This is how matters should be but what we are likely to get instead is an office whose legislative powers will require significant revision and alteration to keep up with local government reforms and, as such, will be incapable of addressing the strategic challenges facing the Dublin region.

The elected mayor will not be Rudy Giuliani, Boris Johnston or even Ken Livingstone, to whom Deputy O'Connor referred. He or she will have limited powers and little accountability and the office will generate substantial but as yet unknown costs to the Exchequer. The mayor will not be independent of the Minister, city managers or the new offices and structures which will evolve from this new toothless tiger. Surely what is needed for the capital city and, possibly at some future date, for other cities is a clearly defined role, clear powers and responsibilities, a defined budget proposal and transparent functions. The citizens of the city must be protected from this costly indulgence by the Minister.

I and my colleagues who either live in Dublin or represent the Dublin area feel strongly about how our city is run. We are all very proud to be Dubliners or "Dubs" of one kind or another. Even if some of us are not originally from the city, we are proud of where we live and, in particular, the areas and constituents we represent.

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