Dáil debates

Wednesday, 23 November 2016

Local Government (Mayor and Regional Authority of Dublin) Bill 2016: Second Stage [Private Members]

 

5:45 pm

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on the Bill and to recognise the efforts of the Green Party in putting this issue very much back on the agenda of the Dáil as well as the broader political agenda. I also note that Fianna Fáil and Deputy John Lahart, in particular, have made proposals and given us the opportunity to discuss this proposed important reform of the way we govern the city of Dublin and local government in general.

In 2011, the Fine Gael manifesto contained a commitment that we would support the concept of a directly elected mayor of Dublin, provided that we got it right and ensured that it produced added value and improvements for the city and not just additional cost and bureaucracy.

It is a great regret that the previous Government, of which I was a member, did not hold a plebiscite on the issue or allow people in Dublin to have a say on directly electing a mayor for the city. The reason for this was that my local authority, Fingal County Council, vetoed the proposal for a plebiscite. The Government mistakenly allowed it to do so by framing the legislation in a certain way. It is a shame a plebiscite was not held at that time. I hope one will be held in this Dáil in order that people in Dublin will have their say on how they want their city and county to be governed.

I support the concept of a directly elected mayor. It would be useful to have a figure representing Dublin and advocating for the city internationally and domestically as well as in dealings with central Government and national politicians. I believe Henry Kissinger once famously asked who he should ring if he wanted to call Europe. This question, which could still be asked today in respect of Europe, can also be asked of Dublin. In other words, who does one call if one wants to speak to Dublin? Is it an interest group such as the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, the mayor of the city or one of the other Dublin local authorities or one of the senior officials in one of the four local authorities? The answer is that one cannot call anybody because no one speaks for the city as we do not have the important office of a directly elected mayor.

A directly elected mayor is an effective means of moving power from officials to elected politicians. This should occur across local government where too much power rests with the executive rather than with those who have been elected to office. The relationship between Ministers and Secretaries General is good one. The latter are permanent officials with particular responsibilities who act as Accounting Officers, whereas the Minister is an elected representative. A similar relationship could work well in local government between a mayor, who is in situ for two and a half or five years, and a chief executive. This is the type of reform I would like to take place, not only in Dublin but across local government. A directly elected mayor would herald a genuine shift in power from central to local government because the person elected would have real authority and a real electoral mandate in his or her dealings with the Government. This would be a powerful statement and change for the better.

The current position is that mayors are elected by their peers and hold office for only one year. Anyone who has held office knows it takes a couple of months to find one's find and get things started. When the office only lasts for one year it is difficult to get anything of substance done. One year is much too short and the Buggins' turn system of mayors that operates nationwide is not effective.

It is important to get the model right. I do not support the model proposed by a previous Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Mr. John Gormley, which would essentially have created another regional authority with a mayor on top of the existing four administrative counties in Dublin. The model I prefer is more akin to that which applies in major cities such as London and Paris, where one has a single local authority with an elected mayor and another level of neighbourhood councils below this, for example, the borough councils in London and the arrondissementsin Paris. While I appreciate that Dublin is a small city and it could be argued that such a model would create too much local government in a city of only 1 million or 1.5 million people, the population of Dublin will increase to 2 million in the next couple of decades.

I welcome the opportunity presented to the House by the Green Party and Fianna Fáil to discuss this important matter. I hope and expect the Government will advance this issue in the coming years.

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