Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

No such commitment has been given. There are proposals for local government reform that will come before Cabinet shortly. We should not underestimate the difficulties involved in the type of structural change to local government that would be required if a new layer of government were to be introduced, with a directly elected mayor which would have the powers and the teeth to solve some of the problems that we have in our major cities. Even if there were a proposal to hold an election for a directly elected mayor for Dublin, for example, realistically that office could not be in place and the election for it held in time for the local and European elections next year. This is because of the other administrative changes that would have to be made in each of the local authorities in Dublin were the proposal to extend to the four local authorities, notwithstanding the greater Dublin area where it would have to have some sort of a role for its decisions to be meaningful and have substance.

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