Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State seems to be trying to confuse people. We are saying the director general will have a full role in hiring people and managing human resources but not in respect of the mayor's team. We are not talking about any other positions. We have put on record clearly what we are proposing. A new mayor should be able to hire his or her team. There are good staff in the council and the mayor would be selecting team members from existing council personnel. It is important to put that on the record. The Minister of State seems to be talking about a different referendum from the one we were involved in and in which people voted. A former Minister of State in the previous Government, Deputy Phelan, said we are looking at a very significant reform of local government, with the granting of enhanced powers. We do not see any enhanced powers in the Bill. That is why we have concerns and why we have pressed two amendments to votes. We have the same concerns in respect of the provisions we are discussing in this group. The new mayor needs to be able to select his or her team. The appointment of a special adviser is done differently, as will be legislated for, and the four other staff members will be existing council staff, who apply for the role, whom the mayor selects.

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