John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We have been working very hard and we have played our part in that. Nobody here envisages a diminished role for councillors or councils. In fact, everybody agrees that we should enhance their roles. I accept that point about business people coming to Ireland but I do not want to get hung up on business people. Business drives a lot of things in Dublin but there is a danger that those involved in it can be seen as an elite. There has been a real reaction to elites globally and to people who presume to know what is best for everybody else. This has to have reach into communities at every social and socioeconomic level. Brexit creates an urgency about some of the issues that have been mentioned.

Some Members spoke of how the chief executives of the four Dublin local authorities have had great powers conferred on them but I remember when chief executives and former county managers had such powers because politicians could not make the difficult decisions.

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They would not make the difficult choices. The particular instance involving the former Minister, Noel Dempsey, was a clear example of that.

Deputy Ó Broin mentioned the London model, where the mayor started off with a modest range of powers, which were then increased. That is what they did in London and Westminster, on two occasions since its mayoral inauguration, has conferred additional powers on the mayor of London. I thank the Sinn Féin contributors, including Deputy Ó Snodaigh. When the former Minister, now Commissioner, Phil Hogan, put forward his proposals, we were given a very tight timeline, and that is best forgotten about.

I agree with Deputy Jan O'Sullivan that we should not only focus on the London model. We should not be slavish about the models we examine but we can borrow some elements from them. She mentioned the Vancouver model. I have a nephew who lives there. It is a beautiful city and I have visited it, but it has a colossal drugs problem. It is not all light and sunshine there either.

The most disadvantaged areas in Ireland still remain in Dublin. Dublin has the largest population and the biggest contribution to gross domestic product comes from Dublin. Dublin is a city of international statute and standing and it is matter of building on that.

I remember during the first phase of the former Minister, Phil Hogan's consultation being met by a man from the community in Tallaght who attended a public consultation meeting and who was against the idea of having a directly elected mayor for this city. This reinforces the point of keeping our existing local authority structure with their cathaoirligh or mayors because he said that he liked to know who his mayor is and to have access to the major. It is important for many communities that its members can drop into County Hall in Tallaght, Swords or Dún Laoghaire and meet their politicians face to face. He felt that if there was a directly elected major for the city that such access would become remote but the powers and functions of a directly elected mayor the city would be completely different.

As for the Minister's written response, I accept my Bill is devoid of detail. This measure could not happen if he was a Minister in a Government with a whopping overall majority. It could simply be swatted away or he could come up with proposals that he wants and run them through with a coach and four without amendment. What I put forward was very deliberate. I will be talking about Deputy Eamon Ryan's Bill tomorrow night, as the Green Party is introducing a Bill. I see a few gaps in it and I will be pointing them out not in a negative way but to explain where I am coming from in proposing a plebiscite and conferring all the powers on the Minister's office because, theoretically, his office has all the facilities and resources of State at its disposal in terms of preparing legislation. That would then be brought before this House and because this is a minority Government, the Minister cannot ram it through. What could be more democratic than if the Minister were to present a raft of proposals for a directly elected mayor and all the other Deputies would get to debate them, propose meaningful changes and impact on them positively if they see fit? That is from where I was coming on that. I agree there is some good technical architecture in the Green Party's Bill but I will leave it until tomorrow evening's debate to talk about that.

Before the Minister spoke, the June deadline could have given the impression of a desire on his part to drag this out but I take him at his word. I have much admiration for him as a public servant and his family have a long history of public service, so I am taking him at his word and will not look for any written agreement on that.

My colleague, Deputy Jack Chambers, spoke about there being no co-ordination around policy and issues in that regard. There are mayoral models abroad. There is not only the London model. Alain Juppé is trying to make a come-back, in seeking to be the next President of France, on the back of a really successful period as mayor of Bordeaux, having transformed that city. Copenhagen, which, in a very healthy way reviews how it does democracy on a pretty regular cycle, is an impressive city to visit and from which to draw. I do not suggest that we would be slavish about following the London model because that city is on a much bigger scale than Dublin but we should cast our eyes in terms of research and planning, as has Dublin Chamber of Commerce, which has spent quite some time in Copenhagen examining its model and how long the authorities there plan ahead. One of the most significant things it learned is that when a city has a plan for 30 years, 40 years or 50 years and when it is seen to implement aspects of it, investment follows quite quickly because investors can see these guys and girls know what they are about, have an A-to-Z plan and will follow it through in good times and bad times. The investors then want to invest in that and want to help them make it happen.

I will finish on the headbanger argument. Many colleagues and people say that only a headbanger, a populist or a celebrity will get the position of mayor of Dublin. This again comes back to one of the of the purposes behind my non-prescriptive approach. As the Minister emphasised, when people go to a plebiscite on this issue and if they pass it, they will know what functions and powers are at the disposal of a mayor. There will be no mayoral candidate who will be able to say he or she can take on the world and will do this and will do that. The voters of Dublin, who are smart people, will say these are the powers the mayor has and will ask him or her how do they propose to make that happen. One of the weaknesses in Deputy Ryan's Bill is that on election, a mayor would have four or five months to come up with a plan, whereas I would hope that the plan begins on day one and if the mayor is elected we would know what powers he or she has and what plans he or she has to implement. There would be an expectation on the day following the mayor's election that he or she would just go on and do it. I thank the Ceann Comhairle for give me the additional time. That is what would prevent the headbanger argument from winning out because the people would know what to expect from their mayor.

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