Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is good because I have an extra five minutes. I wish to make a point in all seriousness about the inclusion of these amendments. I acknowledge the fact that the Minister of State has answered on the policing issue by saying the community safety partnership has not yet been set up and has expressed the wish that the mayor will be chair. That is now on the record of the House, which I welcome.

Let us consider the issue of Limerick regeneration, which the Minister of State says is already accounted for. If it is accounted for, why not accept this amendment? It states: "The Mayor shall have oversight with regards to the implementation of the Limerick Regeneration projects, and any subsequent regeneration programmes, and shall produce an annual report to be delivered to Councillors regarding the status of the regeneration programmes." There is nothing outlandish in that amendment. If what the Minister of State is saying is correct and this has already been catered for, there should be no problem with accepting the amendment. The very fact that he will not accept these amendments tells me he is not willing to give the new mayor the required powers.

The Minister of State keeps talking about respecting the reserve powers of the councillors, and I get that, but he is again missing the overarching point that those powers have been diminished in recent years. We should be looking at this as an opportunity to enhance the powers of our local councillors who we all agree do such tremendous hard work. The Minister of State has again missed an opportunity. He seems to be stuck in a straitjacket that means we can only go so far and no further. Why should we leave waste management with the director general? We do not get to elect the director general. We will, in June, have the opportunity to elect the mayor and he or she should have the powers to deal with waste management because as I am sure the Minister of State will acknowledge, and as everyone across Limerick will acknowledge, it is a major issue. We have major dumping issues across Limerick because the current system is not fit for purpose. There are four private companies competing with each other and they are trailing their way through villages and towns across Limerick city and county. Action is needed to deal with the issue but the Minister of State is insisting that the mayor should not have the powers to deal with it.What is being insisted upon is that the mayor should not have the power to deal with that situation. I do not think the people of Limerick will be impressed with that position. We are giving the Government the opportunity today to enhance the powers of the mayor and to give the office the power to deal with the crucial issue of waste management. For the life of me, I cannot see why the Minister of State will not agree to this power being granted.

He already had an opportunity to do this in the Dáil, but he rejected it. I am making the case again here because I truly believe we can do better in this regard. I truly believe we can do so. The point the Minister of State has made, I think about half a dozen times now, is that he cannot do any more because this is how the people voted. That is a particularly conservative interpretation of how the people voted. I do not think that anything in the way the people voted would proscribe the mayor from having powers over waste management. If the Minister of State and I can agree that the current situation is not acceptable, and I think we do, then why not give the democratically-elected mayor of Limerick city the power to tackle the issue? This is what we need to do, and this is the last opportunity to do so. I again appeal to the Minister of State to listen to us and to work with us. We have today and we have Report Stage. I ask the Minister to work with us and to listen to what the people of Limerick actually want.