Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Lahart in particular, who had the courtesy to contact me before introducing the legislation to the Dáil. He has already engaged in a very genuine way in trying to ensure this actually happens, rather than simply having a political debate on it. To be fair, Deputy Ryan is in the same class. From my perspective, we will do something significant in this area. I am committed to having a serious consultation process with a view to trying to bring forward actual proposals by the middle of next year. This is our commitment in the programme for Government. This is not a consultation pre-consultation pre-plebiscite. This is ensuring that if we do this, we do it properly.

I know that while there have been attempts in the past to introduce legislation for a plebiscite and to introduce a directly elected mayor for Dublin, the view is the legislation introduced then, which is very similar to what Deputy Ryan proposes to introduce tomorrow evening, would need some alterations and changes and more consideration before we could support it. This has nothing to do with new politics; it is simply that I would like to get this right. What Deputy Chambers said is true also. We need to consult with local representatives in Dublin and with existing mayors and chief executives.

Dublin is a huge driver not just of its own metropolitan area in terms of economic development, opportunities and revenue raising, but of the country in terms of Ireland's economy. We will be opening a public process to develop a new national planning framework by the middle of next year, which will envisage what Ireland should look like, if we plan for it properly, by 2040. An extra 1 million people will be living in Ireland by then. Certainly 40%, if not 50%, of them will live in and around the Dublin metropolitan area. Dublin Chamber of Commerce has a vision 2050 project for Dublin in terms of what it should look like, how people will move around, how we can plan for this and how we can prepare for it.

If we look at the challenge, the national planning framework will have to accommodate population growth in other parts of the country. The biggest element of it will be a new cities strategy for Ireland, whereby cities can be regional drivers in various parts of the Ireland, whether it is Cork, Waterford, Limerick, Galway, Kilkenny or wherever. We are speaking about planning for an expanding growing country in a way that takes on many of the other challenges we must face, whether they are climate change, finding jobs and creating jobs for people or having a balanced and sustainable economic growth model that does not result in thousands of Irish people having to leave the country to find work or having huge immigration issues as the economy accelerates out of recession. This has been the type of management we have seen in Ireland linked to property and unsustainable economic models, and this is what we need to change.

Part of the process, in my view, is co-ordinated leadership at city level in Ireland, Dublin being the obvious and most important example. At present, I am working with a very dedicated team of executives in the four local authorities in Dublin, and a very committed series of councils, on homelessness and housing. Within six weeks, Dublin City Council will have planned for, provided for and constructed an extra 210 emergency beds for homeless people this winter in high quality new units. We have had to use emergency powers to be able to make this happen quickly. It will be done by 9 December. On nights like tonight, with the temperatures we are experiencing, we would do well to remind ourselves of the challenges we all face.

The idea that we would not seek to have more co-ordination and more leadership coming from a single office representing the entire Dublin metropolitan area would be failing in our duties to look in a more ambitious way at how we can plan for the future. This is not to undermine existing structures or existing councils.

I am talking about a co-ordination role where an individual who holds the office understands his or her city in an intimate way. It will be a person who has been directly elected by the people, giving him or her a mandate to represent the city at home and abroad in a proactive, enthusiastic and, perhaps, idealistic but certainly positive way. This is something from which Dublin would benefit significantly. Mayors in other cities in other parts of Europe have become key figures in attracting interest and investment, have enhanced reputations and tried to lead cities in a new direction, whether through design, a financial services sector or whatever else. They can come up with a specific plan to solve key problems that we are perhaps struggling with at present because of a lack of co-ordination, social housing being an obvious example. That can only be a good thing.

We are proposing amendments - both this evening and tomorrow evening - in which we ask both Fianna Fáil and the Green Party to ensure that in the next six months we work intensively together and engage in consultation in order to get a new structure that we can put to the people in a plebiscite. We will set out what we think will work for Dublin and we may bring forward similar proposals, if it makes sense to do so, for Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford. Should we have a political figurehead for Dublin, our capital city, who has real power? Does the Government have the capacity to devolve power from, say, the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport or the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government to a new office that can help focus - on a daily basis - on improving the quality of life across this city of over 1 million people? My job is to operate nationally but also to work with councils to co-ordinate a response on many of the issues in respect of which citizens across this city want the political system to provide solutions.

In the past 20 years I have witnessed a steady decline in respect for politics and in the way people look at the political system. We need to act collectively to change that. One of the ways we can do so is by inviting people to choose a champion for their city and giving that person powers. We can then get to work to ensure that this person, who is currently answerable to existing councils, will also have real powers to engage and co-ordinate responses that are more appropriate at a local level for a city like Dublin rather than, for example, trying to do things through this Chamber.

Let us try to design a system that can work and get the endorsement of the people for that. If we do that, it will be a success. If we try to outmanoeuvre each other and make it party political by seeing who can have the cleverest idea around a mayor for Dublin, we will probably fail in our efforts. Who knows how long this Government will last? It will probably not last a full term and this is one of the things I would like to get done. I want to work on this issue with a politician, Deputy Lahart, I consider to be quite sincere and with Deputy Eamon Ryan and the Green Party. I am sure the other political parties will want to work on this as well, judging by what we have heard this evening. I will focus the resources of my Department on trying to get this right in the next six months or so. Hopefully, we will come back with a joint proposal that we can put to the people of Dublin in a plebiscite and we can get their endorsement for setting up the office so that everybody will know what they are voting for and it can all take effect in 2019, when the next local government elections are due to take place.

I appeal to people to work with me on that. My motivation is to get this right for a capital city that will be the largest English-speaking city in European Union, and the only English-speaking capital, in the not-too-distant future. A mayor or lord mayor, directly elected by the people and with real power rather than being a figurehead, would enhance the way Dublin is managed and functions. Members have a commitment to do that in a genuine way and I hope they will work with me on it.

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