Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming into the House and I know that he has a strong personal interest in this issue.

I am concerned that we are only five months away from the election of this office, yet we are only debating the legislation now. I appreciate that is not the fault of the Minister of State but a number of us have asked to deal with this legislation earlier because the creation of this office is quite a radical shift in local government and we should be ambitious. While I get the point that Senator Boyhan made about an elected mayor, and we are not necessarily thinking about New York, London, Paris or Barcelona, I have no doubt as to Limerick's ambition. I also have no doubt that an officeholder could look to drive and build that office in a particular way as a voice for Limerick.

I agree with Senator Boyhan that the role should be full time. It needs to be properly resourced and staffed if it is to have any real impact. That is important both to the officeholder but more important to the people of the city and county of Limerick. The people of Limerick will be busy as they will have to deal with four ballot papers in June but this has the potential to be one of the most significant ballots.

I agree with colleagues that we do not have local government in Ireland; we have local administration. We have local councils that have limited functions and powers. They are underfunded and we can have a debate on local taxation but the powers are very limited. The real question about this legislation is: when we elect a mayor what can he or she do? What will be the real differences as a result of this legislation? I am rather disappointed in the legislation as it lacks ambition. As Senator Boyhan outlined, the big criticism concerns the powers that the chief executive used to have. The chief executive has too many powers. We are now bringing in a directly-elected mayor so we think that surely the powers will be transferred. Section 10(2)states: " All functions (other than functions conferred by or under an enactment specified in Part 2 of Schedule 1) that, immediately before the vesting day, vested in the chief executive of Limerick City and County Council shall, on and after that day, vest in the Mayor." So suddenly one thinks a lot of powers will be transferred to the directly-elected mayor but then we turn to Part 2 of Schedule 1 where we see all the functions that remain with the chief executive. We start on one page of enactments but then there are two pages and all the way up to seven and a half of pages of powers remaining with the chief executive.

What is actually left with the new directly-elected mayor? In terms of the lord mayor's functions, there will be a consultative forum. We are all very in favour of consultative forums as they will do a lot of consulting. The mayor can draw up a mayoral programme so there will be a manifesto for five years. There will be a mayoral advisory implementation committee to implement and advise on the mayoral programme. There will be a Limerick Project Ireland development board and a transport subgroup that will look at the national development plan, which again is decided by central government and not by a local or regional government, and looking at how that is going to be implemented in the mid-west. There is also a requirement on the Government to consult with the mayor, so there has to be engagement.

I am looking at what is proposed and it rather reminds me of the office of the President. The President has certain functions. He can consult and chair Council of State meetings. He has done a lot of ceremonial role as, indeed, the mayor of Limerick will have. There will probably be some debate about whether the mayor strays outside his or her remit from time to time. However, I am concerned at the lack of ambition in the number of powers that are given to the mayor in the legislation. While Senator Boyhan picked on some of the bigger cities, we should look at the cities with which Limerick is twinned. Limerick city is twined with Quimper in Brittany in France and Spokane in Washington in the United States. In the French system the mayor has a lot more power with regard to policing, public safety and public health. Mayors propose and oversee the budget. They have powers with regard to the environment and built heritage. They can undertake a number of unilateral administrative acts but, at the same time, they are accountable to the elected council, which is correct. In the US, local government is not as powerful but, again, it is the Mayor of Spokane who proposes the budget and appoints the director of services.