Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will speak to amendments Nos. 25 and 26. Amendment No. 25 relates to the frequency with which the consultative forum shall meet. In section 30, the Bill provides that a forum be established "known as the Limerick Mayoral and Government Consultative Forum ... to advise the Minister in relation to any matter that affects, or is likely to affect, Limerick or the performance of the functions of the Mayor". We in the Labour Party propose that the meetings should take place on a quarterly rather than a biannual basis, as is currently proposed. What goes to the heart of these amendments is the fact that the people of Limerick will vote for a mayor who will be perceived to have real executive power. They have voted for decentralisation and for local government. Therefore, there must be regular dialogue between the mayor and the Government to ensure that the voice of the former is heard.

We cannot accept a situation wherein the role of the mayor remains procedural or administrative, or even symbolic, with the Custom House - and I mean no disrespect to the good people who work there - and the permanent staff of the local authorities continuing to retain the lion's share of influence on matters for which voters intended the mayor to possess. Our amendment attempts to redress that imbalance by providing for more regular communication.

Amendment No. 26 deals with the mayoral programme. Section 31 of the Bill provides that "The Mayor shall, within the period of 4 months from the commencement of his or her term of office, prepare and publish a programme [called the mayoral programme] setting out the key objectives and priorities for his or her term of office." As currently drafted, the mayor shall present a draft of the mayoral programme for consideration, and that is the key word, by the elected council at an ordinary meeting within four months of the commencement of his or her term of office. All our amendment seeks to do is to strengthen that language by replacing the word "consideration" with "approval". As I stated earlier, the electorate of Limerick was clear in voting for stronger local government and with the creation of a strong directly elected mayoral role, there must also be a strong council vote. Elected councillors should be enabled to do the work they were elected to do.

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