Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The House has already considered the Local Government (Mayor and Regional Authority of Dublin) Bill 2016 and the Local Government Reform (Amendment) (Directly Elected Mayor of Dublin) Bill 2016 which was brought forward by Deputy Lahart. When those Bills were taken on Second Stage, the House agreed to defer a vote on them, pending further discussion and consultation with the Minister and the Government.

That was a wise move. I would suggest that the citizens of Dublin will need to know the details of just how such a directly elected mayor would operate before voting on the principle of having such an office. It would be important to examine the role and functions of such a directly elected mayor in the Dublin area, which is the area on which I will be concentrating in my contribution. I am very supportive of the principle of directly elected mayors. The issue of having such a mayor for Dublin is being referred to a citizens' assembly. I am disappointed that more work has not been done on the situation in Dublin and that more consultation is needed through the citizens' assembly.

As the Minister of State said in his speech, we need to examine the functions of such a mayor, the relationship the office will have with elected members and the executive, and the geographical area to be covered. Functions which will certainly be covered include housing, planning, transport and, perhaps, some justice issues such as those covered by the joint policing committees of the local authorities.

If central government and Departments are going to cede power to local government, it will present challenges for the Minister of State. He knows that. Civil servants do not like ceding power and any Bill he proposes could be scuppered by the permanent government. I am sure the Minister of State is quite aware of that as he is a very experienced Deputy and Minister of State at this stage.

There is no doubt that the existing post of Lord Mayor of Dublin is largely ceremonial but the huge amount of goodwill citizens have for the office cannot be underestimated. That is something which can be built on. It is certainly something which I have experienced in my own right. That said, the system of local government in Dublin city is not working at the moment. I was elected to Dublin City Council in 2014 and it was my experience that the assembly was too big at 63 members, that it is very fragmented politically, that it has very limited powers and that, as a result, it is impossible to get anything done. Meanwhile the problems in respect of housing, transport and planning which I mentioned earlier continue to get worse. I appeal to the electorate to take the local authority elections very seriously and to elect people who are going to make decisions rather than people who just wish to protest.

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