Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 113: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government when he expects to bring to Cabinet legislation that will create a directly elected mayor for Dublin that was promised to be in place in 2010; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35968/09]

Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 156: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will bring legislation before the Houses of the Oireachtas in autumn 2009 to provide for directly elected mayors; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35822/09]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 113 and 156 together.

On 12 May 2009 I announced the Government decided to introduce a directly elected mayor for the Dublin region in 2010. This decision arises from the commitment in the programme for Government to introduce a directly elected mayor of Dublin and from the considerations in the Green Paper on local government which I published in April 2008.

A central theme of the Green Paper on local government is the need for a renewal of local democratic leadership. The Government's decision to introduce a directly elected mayor of Dublin will deliver significantly strengthened leadership for the city and region, with enhanced accountability and a direct connection with the citizen. My Department is drafting the necessary legislation and it is my intention that the mayor will be equipped with a suite of substantial powers across the functions of local government, and will have the authority and powers to deliver real leadership for the city and region. The mayor will act primarily as a strategic policy maker who will also work to integrate the activities of local government and the wider public service in and across Dublin. The details of the mayor's responsibilities will be set out in legislation.

The Government decision on the Dublin mayor marks the first phase of the transformation of local government in accordance with the programme for Government. Given my intention that mayoral elections will be held next year, it will be necessary to have the relevant legislation in place well in advance. To these ends, I will be bringing my legislation proposals to Government in the coming weeks.

Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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The Minister's response is a wee bit flowery. I know he will respond by saying that the specifics will be in the legislation, but at this stage we need to put some meat on the bones because several questions need to be answered even before we reach the legislative stage. For example, what are the powers of this proposed mayor in respect of rezoning and the draft development plan, a power that county councillors hold under a statutory instrument? How will the mayor affect this process? Questions arise about staffing, salary, the expense of creating the office, the term of the office and powers. There is an onus on us to put this up for debate because there are many questions. One might ask why I, as a Donegal man, am asking about the Dublin mayor but I want to know if this will be rolled out nationally. Will Dublin be a pilot? Will Donegal, Leitrim, Sligo, and Cork all have directly elected mayors? If the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is still in office in 2010 when the mayor is elected, what will his relationship be with the mayor? Many questions need to be answered.

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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I hope I will have a good relationship with the person elected, even if it is a Fine Gael person. Fine Gael has supported this proposal. One of Deputy McHugh's colleagues raised it on the Adjournment and I set out the responsibilities involved in a little more detail then. If the Deputy wishes, I can repeat them: setting the framework for the future; the physical development of Dublin city and the region by setting out regional planning guidelines which Dublin local authorities must abide by; delivering a reliable, sustainable, integrated public transport in Dublin by leading the Dublin Transportation Authority, following the London model; ensuring the delivery of an environmentally sustainable approach to waste management in Dublin by proposing and overseeing the implementation of the Dublin region waste management plan; maximising conservation and efficient use of water resources and the safe treatment of waste water through proposing and overseeing the implementation of the Dublin regional water services plan; promoting a dynamic city region which is enterprising and renowned for its rich culture and heritage by bringing all key public and private sectors together in a new regional development board; promoting quality housing and sustainable communities; promoting the protection and enhancement of Dublin's environment; and a range of other areas. This will be set out in the legislation.

We feel it will not impose significant costs. They will be found within the existing financial arrangements. Given the broad support we have received for this initiative from the Dublin Chamber of Commerce and others, we feel that it will be successful. It will be a real legacy and something of which we can all be proud.

Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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The Minister is aware that the Labour Party pioneered the concept of a directly elected lord mayor of Dublin. Does he intend to extend this to other cities? Is this the only aspect of the White Paper that will be implemented? It belongs in the context of local government reform but where are the rest of those reforms? The election of mayors should be tied to the local election period and, while I know there is a sequencing issue in respect of the legislation, does the Minister envisage that the first term of office will be on the current five year schedule for local government elections?

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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Yes, that was the intention. We need to broaden our concept of local government. We are committed to a Dublin mayor. I did not know that the Labour Party pioneered the issue but that raises the question why it did not do anything about it.

Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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We were not in office.

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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I do not know how long ago that was or the circumstances. We need, however, to rethink the structures of local government. What we have now is an inherited British model but is it suitable to our modern State and does it have the dynamism and flexibility to deal with the issues? The answer is probably "No". We must reinvent it. It may be a difficult transition but we need to be quite radical. The mayoralty is only one aspect of that, but if we are to have more dynamic local authorities with fewer people on them, it raises the question about the number of people in this Dáil. Should we have a slimmed-down Dáil? That question does not go down too well in this House.

Deirdre Clune (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I think it does.

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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Does it?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Minister is the one who should be worried, not us.

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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I never detect great enthusiasm for creating a-----

Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Will the Minister return to the question about sequencing?

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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That is absolutely right. That is why I brought this forward.

Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)
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When does the Minister expect to advertise the position?

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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I am not going to advertise the position.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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It will be an election.

Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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The Minister might run.

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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There will be an election so there will be no advertisement in the newspaper. We will hold a democratic election. People can put their names forward in the normal way and it should be a very interesting election.

Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)
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When?

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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Next year, as I told the Deputy.

Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)
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Next year is a long time.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Minister may confirm or reject the revelations in The Sunday Tribune at the weekend. I do not assume that everything I read in the papers is true but it seems that a survey of voter attitudes in Dublin south east was commissioned at the cost of €12,000 which was subsequently charged to the Minister's Department.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I am not sure this is relevant to the question about the Dublin mayor.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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It is very relevant. Red C carried out the opinion poll on voter attitudes in Dublin south east. As part of that were any surveys done or questions asked about the Dublin mayoralty, what voters thought of it, or the kind of candidate they might wish to support?

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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The Department did not pay for it. I paid for it. I do not recall questions about the Dublin mayoralty. It will enhance the city greatly and has been called for by the Dublin Chamber of Commerce. The role would evolve. If one talks to Ken Livingstone, for example, he will say that initially people were sceptical about the London mayoralty. He told me he, too, was sceptical and voted against the legislation when it came to the House of Commons although later, of course, he was a passionate advocate for the role of the mayor in London. People will criticise this move and say it is only starting off and that perhaps the Minister should award more radical powers. I believe the role will have sufficient powers. The person can be assured he or she will have powers to do a good job for this city. Whoever he or she may be, if I am in office as Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, that person will have my full co-operation.

Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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The Minister made the point that the mayoralty is only part of what he hopes to do for local government. It will be welcome. A directly elected mayor is an idea worth trying, especially for Dublin, to see how it will work out and evolve. That said, we should not lose sight of the importance of the role of the ordinary county and city councillor. These people are at the coal face and are often able to achieve things that perhaps Deputies and the Opposition cannot. There is no separation of Government and Opposition on local authorities.

The Minister made a point about reducing the number of councillors. I would guard against that because we do not want politics to become totally professionalised and a full-time job. The good point about councils is that they still have a certain number of people who come from and work in the community. They have other jobs and experiences which they can bring to their work as local county councillors. We need to keep that.

I hope that in whatever the Minister does he will not allow the media to drive the agenda. In reality, there are not too many Deputies. Professor Michael Gallagher of Trinity College has said the number of Irish parliamentarians is in line with that in other countries of similar size to Ireland. There is a tendency for us to go along with the media agenda. The Minister mentioned the election of faceless people from lists who would be picked by party membership. We should not do only what the media says but should do what is good for democratic representation in this country.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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This is well outside the scope of the question, interesting as it is. I am not sure if the Minister wishes to air his views.

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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I did not recommend any system along the lines of what exists in Germany where party apparatchiks put people in place. The list or top-up system I had in mind would be based on those people who stood in elections and the percentage vote they received. That allows the election to be personalised. I am not going along with any media agenda but simply proceeding with what I think is best.

The Deputy's point in respect of councillors is fine. However, as the Deputy knows, we discovered there has been a significant turnover of councillors, particularly on Dublin City Council. We must ask ourselves why this is the case. Some have complained the work was not compatible with their work commitments and was not paying enough. There were many complaints. The Deputy's basic point is that it is good to have people from different professions represented and that is fair. However, there are clear difficulties that must be addressed and that is what I hope to do in the forthcoming legislation, particularly in the White Paper.