Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

The Leader has more experience which should be heard in her contribution. It would be good if we were to pilot directly elected mayoral elections in the cities of Dublin, Cork and Galway. We must think of new ways of engaging the public with local government – the number of citizens who vote in local government elections is small. We have seen the success of this in London and there is a case for it to be introduced in Dublin, Cork and Galway. I ask the Minister to consider this on Committee Stage.

Members of the Oireachtas who are not local councillors frequently fail to put into practice locally what they preach here. At my local council I supported the provision of a halting site and a Government Deputy voted against it, even though it represented Government policy. One of the benefits of keeping Members of the Oireachtas as members of councils is that it ensures we must practice what we preach locally. I have heard the Minister speak about this in the past and he was right. Too many Members of these Houses who are not county councillors hide on important issues such as waste management, zoning and Travellers. It is arguable that some of the hardest decisions one must make as a politician are local as they confront people with changes that must occur in their community. That is one of the inherent benefits of our system which we should not overlook.