Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have had an interest in Limerick for all my life. I have never felt the need to hide that, but obviously I do like to see Limerick defeated when they play Clare in hurling matches. Above and beyond that, I am quite a supporter of Limerick.

To go back to more serious points, why should the directly elected mayor, with all the powers he or she will have, not be able to nominate somebody for civic honours? More importantly, amendment No. 81 refers to when a greater additional expenditure was incurred than was envisaged and the CEO has to inform the cathaoirleach of Limerick County Council of that expenditure hastily. That is the status quo. The Minister of State has always said that the new mayor of Limerick will effectively introduce the budget, yet if the budget is breached and additional expenditure is incurred by the executive, why on earth would the directly elected mayor not be informed of that? The Minister of State is saying that these are circumstances where that power should remain with the príomh chomhairleoir. I do not understand the rationale for it and I welcome an explanation. On Committee Stage, we did not quite get down to discussing that.

Last, amendments Nos. 82 and 83 relate to a potential conflict of interest where the county manager, as he or she once was, the CEO as he or she is now, and the director general as he or she will become. Where he or she has a conflict of interest with regard to something that is being discussed or where another member of staff has a conflict of interest, essentially, he or she has to inform the chief executive of that. However, in the future, he or she will have to inform the príomh chomhairleoir rather than the mayor. Again, we are questioning what the rationale for that is. There is no obvious rationale for any of those very specific powers that have been reserved. I look forward to the Minister of State's explanation as to why he thinks these powers should not be given to a new directly elected mayor of Limerick and should instead remain with a príomh chomhairleoir. Could he address the issue of the príomh chomhairleoir and a conflict of powers between the two?

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