Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As I said last night, Sinn Féin has long supported the idea of a directly elected mayor but it does so in the context of local government reform. A purely symbolic position of mayor is of very little value, in and of itself, to the citizens of Dublin or anywhere else. I share the views of other speakers that we need a mayoral office with real executive powers, which give added value to the operation of political institutions. I am also strongly of the view that those powers should be devolved downwards and that we should see no loss of powers, resources or functions in the existing structures of local government, which are too weak as it is. Our vision for a mayor for Dublin, or anywhere else, is one where powers would be devolved down from Central Government Departments or Government-funded State agencies. The merit of that approach is that not only do we devolve power closer to citizens and their elected representatives, we also bring staff and budgets with it and, in the initial stages, we would be able to craft a proposition which was relatively cost-neutral to the Exchequer.

The smart thing would be to start with a limited number of powers and very clearly defined roles and responsibilities. The value of that is that it would allow the holder of the office of mayor to demonstrate their ability to deliver improved quality services for the citizens of the city and county and to win public confidence from that point on. The powers Sinn Féin would like for a mayor of Dublin would cover public transport, major roads, tourism and waste management. I take the point the Minister made on this last matter but I believe this is actually one of the attractive things about incorporating waste management into the role, notwithstanding the difficulties. Sinn Féin has also outlined proposals for an assembly not dissimilar to what is outlined today. We like the idea of a plebiscite, or a referendum, as it would engage the public and enable them to become part of the conversation and because, if and when the office was established, it would then have clear public legitimacy to support it.

I have some reflections on the so-called consultation that many of us were involved as councillors in Phil Hogan's period as Minister. We attended a lot of cross-council meetings and we found that, in the absence of propositions over the actual functions, we really did not know what we were discussing. In that context there is merit in Deputy Lahart's suggestion of having a public consultation and I supported this last night.

We must not undersell our existing local councils as many of the things Deputies Catherine Martin and Eamon Ryan spoke of were things mayors, chairs and councillors in the existing local authorities are doing to the best of their abilities. Part of the difficulty is that they do not have the power or resources to carry them onto the next level. Significant co-ordination takes place in Dublin in housing and homelessness under the auspices of the Dublin region homeless executive. While there are problems and limitations we should not undersell the value of the local authorities we have.

Sinn Féin is happy to support the Bill though I share many of the Minister's and Deputy Lahart's views on the details of the Bill. These are things we can tease out as we proceed with the consultation, outlined by the Minister as part of the programme for Government commitments, and on Committee Stage in the future. I was less convinced by the case for the Government amendment made yesterday by the Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Damien English, but, having listened to the way the Minister outlined it tonight, I feel it is a very good suggestion to put it into overall Government reform and I am more than happy to support it.

On the specifics of the Green Party Bill, I feel there is too much on strategy and co-ordination and not enough about actual delivery. The Bill is about an office which seeks to co-ordinate the activities of existing players in the field, rather than giving the office real powers to oversee the actual delivery of key services, and Sinn Féin differs from the Green Party in respect of this approach. We also have suggestions which would change the nature of the assembly. While Dublin city is numerically larger in terms of population, the assembly would need to be proportionate to ensure all four local authorities felt adequately represented. In the area of transport, co-ordination is not enough and one clearly needs service delivery. I am not sure much added value would come from the office of mayor to the area of housing as it is something local authorities can and should do very well. There is a lot of sense in the proposals regarding regional planning guidelines and one of the merits of giving responsibility for that to the mayor of Dublin would be to reverse some of the many negative impacts of waste policy for the citizens of Dublin. The Bill has too much around developing plans, strategy and co-ordination and, while I am not against those things, it needs to be more ambitious. I would also like to see more defined powers. As we progressed with that and the public gained confidence and trust in the office, those powers could then increase through a process of rolling devolution.

I welcome the tone of the debate, both yesterday and today, and I think there is enough consensus that, during the Minister-led consultation and on Committee Stage, we can put together a proposition that can translate into putting the proposal into practice. We have, however, been discussing this for a very long time and I do not mean yesterday and today, nor since Phil Hogan's consultation. It is an issue to which we come back again and again and now is the time to show cross-party leadership to bring forward legislation, in the timeline outlined by the Minister, so that we can work with the city and council of Dublin to put in place an office of mayor that gives real added value to the citizens of the city and county and show that having a single point of contact in a number of key areas of public service delivery and co-ordination can make a difference to people's lives. If we can do that it will be a job well done and people will thank us for it and welcome the idea of the office taking on more powers in the future. I support the Bill and the Minister's amendment.

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