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

I applaud the Minister of State as he has run with this since his appointment. It is fair to say he has advanced it more rapidly than any of his predecessors. There is an issue with the citizens' convention. It is not a real citizens' assembly as this Chamber is the citizens' assembly. I know the matter is to be referred to the Citizens' Assembly because it will make the decisions that this House lacks the courage to. It will come back with the same kind of ideas about a directly elected mayor for Dublin that the more radical among us have been proposing for a number of years. It is a shame and we should grasp the concept.

Dublin Chamber has been making the point for a number of years about the number of agencies with which someone coming to the country must engage. Other cities with directly elected mayors that have powers and budgets have a one-stop shop or a go-to person who everybody in the city or county knows. Ultimately, the buck stops with the person. He or she has responsibility and with that responsibility comes accountability.

I disagree with Deputy Eamon Ryan on the point as I would start with a very restricted number of responsibilities, just as London did. We could even start in Dublin by giving a directly elected mayor responsibility for transport, making him or her the one-stop shop for the area. Even as an Opposition Deputy, there are a number of agencies that must be engaged when dealing with transport. Dublin Chamber has a voice from business and we must also consider Transport Infrastructure Ireland, the National Transport Authority, Dublin Bus and cyclist groups. These are a small sample of the total group as we must talk to everybody to get the different views. The mayor would have the power to call all of those in and make decisions affecting them.

I have spoken with the Minister of State and I know he realises that Dublin is different. It must be stressed that Dublin is not competing with other cities in Ireland. As an international city, it is competing with other cities in Europe that already have directly elected mayors. Climate change meetings, for example, would be attended by mayors from Munich, Barcelona, Madrid and Paris. They have great power and authority. In Dublin, on the other hand, there are four mayors that are indirectly elected and which have no say in the direction of policy at home. They may sign up to conventions but they have no real power or influence. A directly elected mayor affords a capital the opportunity to develop partnerships with other cities with whom we have common policy interests. In a scenario where the United Kingdom has left the European Union, it will be critical to develop new allies. These do not always have to be national and they can be city-based if we find a common cause and are able to fight our corner with those allies fighting for the same issues. Westminster restricted the power of the London mayor but increased its power over the years as the directly elected mayoralty began to bed in.

Dublin has been grinding to a halt and congestion costs an estimated €300 million per year, rising to an estimated €3 billion per year by the time we get to 2030. We need somebody who is accountable and responsible, and the current Minister exercises no great responsibility or interest in traffic congestion or transport issues concerning everyday Dubliners. He shuns any kind of accountability in that space. I am a spokesperson for Dublin issues and I know from engaging with the four Dublin local authorities that they have four directors for each of the areas of planning, transport, arts and culture or environment, and it is rare for those directors to communicate with each other.

I am the first to champion the idea that the establishment of those four Dublin local authorities as a response to the corruption that was in the planning system. Elected representatives who may have lived in another part of a county could potentially have voted to zone land 50 miles away. The four Dublin local authorities became very manageable and absolutely ruled out that possibility of corruption. Another benefit is that we have established three successful county towns in Dundrum, Swords and my constituency of Tallaght.

I raised the following matter at a meeting of the climate change committee. A roundabout has recently been constructed in my constituency. It is a small matter in the grand scheme of things. Somebody said to me recently that I must be up to my tonsils dealing with Brexit but I said the biggest issue I am facing is a roundabout in my constituency because nobody seems to be accountable for it. It is causing chaos but no public representative can pinpoint who is responsible. There are public meetings planned - I am going to one after this - and there will be a protest on Saturday. It seems that it is only through protest in town that officialdom begins to listen and take action. If we had a directly elected mayor, the people in my constituency would know it is the person to go to and the mayor would be responsible and accountable. The mayor would have to rectify the problem.

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