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

As the Minister of State is aware, in amendment No. 74, we propose to delete “2 years” and substitute “12 months". It was 1,664 days ago when the people of Limerick voted for a directly elected mayor, and here we are. We do not want other areas to have the same problems we had. We do not want it delayed or that a government could be elected that is not interested in it. We want to make sure it is done as fast as possible.

I raised this on Committee Stage and made the point I will make now. Everyone will know what the plebiscite is on and that it will pass or not pass. There is no suggestion people would not be ready or able for it within one year. The five-year delay in Limerick between plebiscite and first directly elected mayor has dampened the appetite for the position. It was passed by a small majority. We have not yet convinced the people who voted against it of the merits of it. We are losing some of those who voted in favour of it because they do not see it as giving the additional powers we asked for.

I assume the Minister of State will reject our amendment, as he did the other ones. We had one on the D’Hondt system. My party would have had people on the AILG but was excluded from it, but the report it eventually came up with was quite a good one.

We will push amendment No. 74 because we believe it should be done within a year and it would be no surprise to anybody when it happens.

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