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

I am not sure if it was reported correctly. Generally, when the Attorney General gives advice, his advice is on legal matters, not the expertise levels of staff in local authorities, as being a barrister the Attorney General would have no knowledge of such things. However, he has said that even though it is not a referendum in a constitutional sense, we need to treat it as though it was. Therefore a de factoreferendum commission will be established. We will not use any public money in advocating a "Yes" vote, but there will be an information campaign funded publicly and run from the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government.

I will explain the proposal in the simplest way possible. It is a real job. There will be a lord mayor for Cork and mayors for Waterford city and county and Limerick city and county, if the people want it. We will see a transfer of power from the chief executive, formerly known as the county or city manager, to a directly elected mayor. It will be similar to the relationship in Departments between Ministers and their Secretaries General. The mayor will propose the budget and development plan. It is a real job with real clout for somebody who can lead his or her city regions forward. The powers to stay with the CEO are those that are most appropriately not dealt with by a politician: individual planning decisions, individual housing applications and human resources matters.

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