Frances Black (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Yes. I am speaking to these amendments.

The people of Limerick have voted for a directly elected mayor, and this is a choice that should be offered to the people of every city in this country. It is clearly better to have an elected official entrusted with the powers available to local authorities than unaccountable officials. In Dublin, we have seen how council CEOs can be totally out of step with the attitudes and wishes of the people they serve and how little recourse dissatisfied residents have when they feel their interests are not being served by decision-makers. Transferring powers that are overly concentrated from an unelected executive to an elected executive is a modest victory for local democracy, and that is why our amendments are focused on making the mayor accountable to the members of the local authority and expanding the influence of the latter.

At the national level, we operate a parliamentary system whose superiority over more presidential systems is evident. Power is not overly concentrated and parliamentary scrutiny of the Executive's decision-making is more considered and impactful. We should be recreating the strengths of our system at local level and creating a vibrant local democracy in which councillors can make decisions for the benefit of their constituents and communities. We need to give local authorities more powers and explore additional revenue-raising measures that could be used to ensure they are adequately funded. In addition to ensuring they are adequately funded, we need to make sure councillors are adequately paid for what is, for many, a full-time job.