Dáil debates

Wednesday, 10 April 2019

Proposed approval by Dáil Éireann of the Direct Election of Mayor Plebiscite Regulations 2019: Motion

 

4:30 pm

Photo of Shane CassellsShane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is a pleasure to speak about this issue of plebiscites and directly elected mayors. It is great to hear the subject being spoken about at all because there has been little to talk about up until this point. While the motion deals with procedural and administrative measures related to the holding of the plebiscites, I will use my time to address the detail of what will be involved in the very important question that will be put to the people and the issues they will have to weigh up.

My concern, unlike the Minister of State, is that the people will not be armed with the information they need to make this important decision. For the Minister of State to make the assertion that it does not stand up to scrutiny is fundamentally wrong. Everyone in this Chamber flagged this issue in the extensive debate on 24 January at the start of the 2019 term. One thing all Opposition spokespersons said on that day was that they all supported the concept the Minister of State was bringing forward but that they wanted to see the detail promptly and that the public should have it promptly in order that this unique moment would not be lost. The first we saw of it was last week, while the public is completely in the dark. Ten weeks after the discussion in the Dáil, the Minister of State published the detail and we are now six weeks from polling day.

The void caused by the lack of information has been filled, as it always will be, with endless discussions about what the mayors will be paid. That is the one detail that was leaked. The public debate from the start has been framed by the pay issue, not by the potential powers related to finance or the policy issues of which the mayor would have control. It has come down to pay. That was caused by the Minister of State and the Government. He has been on local radio stations debating the pay of the proposed mayors with radio presenters. That is what people hear. That is with what our canvassers and the Minister of State's councillors in Waterford, Cork and Limerick are being hit at doors. People ask why the Government is creating a job for someone with another big pay packet. With what does the Minister of State expect canvassers to reply when the 46 page document on the proposals was only issued last week? As he knows from his time in local government, it is not easy to explain the complex structure of local government to someone on his or her doorstep in 60 seconds in the evening when canvassing. Explaining the dynamics between chief executive officers, directors of services and the new elected mayors and how they will change is not easy. Does the Minister of State accept this? Does he accept that he had the support of Members in this Chamber when we had the debate in January but there was a qualification that we wanted to see the detailed proposals brought forward swiftly? Will he tell me that he is standing over this?

This is a Government proposal that needs to be sold to the public, but, on the other hand, the Minister of State has said it will be run on the same basis as the referendum commission. I am very worried about the information that will be provided. For over 100 years we have been frustrated at the over-centralisation of power in the Custom House. This was a chance to break some of the chains. Even at that, it was not being fully embraced. I expressed my fears in the earlier debate and will say it again. It does not go halfway towards being enough to rebalance powers between the CEO and the directly elected mayor in the same way citizens across the rest of Europe understand their directly elected mayors. The document spends far more time speaking about what the mayor will not be allowed to do than it does about what he or she will or should be allowed to do. The language used about what the mayor could do is all couched in terms of engagement, bringing people together and achieving goals collectively, but the flowery adjectives are dropped when it states what they cannot do. It is more like the Ten Commandments. It is definitely a house production from the Custom House.

The opportunity which was and still is before the Minister of State, to start a process of real reform, is at risk of being lost. I do not want to see this fail because something would be better than nothing. I hope the lack of information that has been the case up until this point will not cost in the passing of the plebiscites. There is a need for a rebalancing of powers between the executive and directly elected councillors. I hope the much awaited information campaign will not cause more confusion than help and that it can convey to people in simple terms the complexity of the structures of local government and how any rebalancing of powers would be beneficial to citizens. People are not going to go out to say they want to have a mayor for Cork. They want to understand the powers mayors will have, the dynamics with the chief executive officer and what they will or will not be able to do across the range of issues mentioned by the Minister of State, including finance, planning and so on. The expressions of concern from the Minister, Deputy Bruton, in the press, among others, do not fill me with confidence. I want to see the people of Cork, Limerick and Waterford have the directly elected mayors they require. It is disgraceful that this much talked about reform has failed because of the engagement with the public so far.

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