Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

This is a short Bill. Its chief effect will be to end the dual mandate from the next local elections in 2004 onwards. It will also continue the current long-standing arrangements for the election of the cathaoirligh of county and city councils. This will be done by repealing the provision in the Local Government Act 2001, which would have introduced new arrangements for elections from 2004 onwards. While the Bill may be short, it will have significant implications at two levels – for the national Parliament and local government now recognised in the Constitution as a fundamental element of our democratic system.

The ending of the dual mandate has been advocated by a range of interests for some time. The Barrington report in 1990 recommended that simultaneous membership of local government and the national Parliament should end. Legislation passed the following year took the first step in this direction by disqualifying Ministers and Ministers of State from local authority membership. The second report of the Commission for the Status of Women also recommended the ending of the dual mandate as an opportunity for women to enter local government. Currently, only about 16% of councillors are women. Other bodies such as the Chambers of Commerce of Ireland, the National Youth Council and the General Council of County Councils have also called for the ending of the dual mandate.