Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We have debated this at length. This Bill has had 20 hours of debate - four days in the Dáil and four days in the Seanad. We can agree to differ. We have put in place something that will bring about a very good mayor. It is based on what the public voted for. Certain functions stay with the CEO, now to be called the director general. Amendment No. 5 specifically is about being consistent with what is there at the moment, whereby a CEO can delegate functions to any of his or her staff while ultimately being responsible to the Chamber. In this case the mayor can delegate functions to the DG but is ultimately responsible to the Chamber for carrying them out. It is an administrative measure that we see as positive. We look forward to seeing the legislation coming into force. Under the legislation, it has to be reviewed within a period of three years. It can be reviewed much earlier. That is up to the Ministers or the mayor. We have a consultative forum that interacts. We are putting forward what we believe is workable legislation that will make a positive contribution to local government in Limerick. It provides for a democratically elected mayor with the mandate, the means and the structure to carry out his or her duties as set out under the legislation.

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