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

Both the Taoiseach and I are absolutely committed to moving ahead with directly elected mayors. However, we will first ask people whether they want directed elected mayors. I would also like to see a directly elected mayor in Cork and other cities. That would be an advancement of local democracy and would give people real ownership of their first citizen, who they would elect directly.

It is unlikely that we will have four directly elected mayors in Dublin. Dublin is a much more complex local governance structure to manage in the context of electing one directly elected mayor across multiple local authorities and the interaction between the cathaoirligh of the various local authorities and a directly elected mayor. We are moving ahead with this proposal, albeit with caution. I note Deputy Lahart has been involved in those conversations.

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