Michael Kennedy (Dublin North, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Finneran, for granting me some of his time. As the capital city with 1 million people, there is a clear need for a mayor in the future and I have always supported such a proposal. There is a major role for the mayor in terms of economic development and being an economic driver for the Dublin region. This is good for Ireland as much as for Dublin. I see the mayor being involved in water and sewerage and waste management. We might not have the dispute with Covanta if a directly elected mayor had those powers. Such a mayor could also have a hands-on involvement with the fire service. In that event we would not have the unseemly row in Swords where a dispute between the HSE and the fire brigade will effectively remove a very badly needed ambulance from the fire service in Swords. The latter service had 4,500 emergency calls last year.

One can see the benefit of mayors in other cities. Examples include Rudy Giuliani in New York, whose zero tolerance policy got rid of anti-social activity. He became renowned and respected for this. This Bill is premature because we have five layers of bureaucracy in Dublin. We have the four Dublin local authorities and the Dublin regional authority. Having spoken to Fingal County Council, I have no doubt there will be extra costs involved. I see the need for a mayor in the future but having a directly elected mayor in 2011, in advance of the 2014 local elections, is premature. I ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to reconsider this matter in the national interest. If the IMF looks closely at what we are doing, it will have reasons to question this. I will vote for this Bill-----

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