Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am not trying to throw a spanner in the works for the Minister of State, but it is really important that we empower a mayor to be accountable to his representatives in the chamber and, ultimately, to the people who elect him. I have always held the view that the chief executive officer or accounting officer is answerable only to the Minister of State's Department. They are not really answerable to their local representatives in any great way. We have seen in the past how some of them dismiss the council's views. We need to be very careful that the powers we are giving the mayor are enforceable. For me, the problem is where the mayor goes if there is conflict. If the mayor is having difficulty with an accounting officer, where does he or she go? Alternatively, if the accounting officer, whoever he or she is, is having difficulty with a mayor who has an appetite for a project that is beyond the financial capabilities of the local authority, where does the accounting officer go to try to resolve the issue? There is an area there that could be open to conflict. If it is, how do they resolve that conflict?