THE PROPOSED establishment of a post as elected mayor of Dublin with executive powers would be of “immense value” to the city, former taoiseach Bertie Ahern said last night. But he refused to say whether he would be interested in the job himself.
Welcoming the commitment by Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government John Gormley to introduce a directly-elected mayoralty by 2011, Mr Ahern said it would provide “a stronger democratic leadership”.
Speaking at the launch of All Politics is Local: A Guide to Local Elections in Irelandby Liam Weeks and Aodh Quinlivan (Collins Press, Cork), Mr Ahern said in relation to the proposed new post: "If it's worth doing it has to have executive powers."
He added: “I am of the view that the creation of such a position would be of immense value to the city of Dublin. It would position the capital city to compete and be one of the best locations in the world to live and to do business and to work in, and I think it would be a fascinating job for an experienced politician who would understand local government and understand national politics.
“Not mentioning myself, but I think it would be an excellent job and I hope it is taken seriously. I have only one view on that, I think if you’re going to have a directly-elected mayor it should be for somebody who has a proven record in politics. Otherwise you get somebody just joining up for the craic who won’t know two ends of politics and be going around acting as lord mayor of Dublin, making an ass of themselves and ourselves.”
Asked afterwards if he was seriously interested in the post, Mr Ahern replied: “A lord mayor with executive powers would be a very interesting job, that’s all I said.”
During his speech, Mr Ahern took a swipe at those he said had predicted his political demise in May 2007. “Punditry is a waste of time anyway, as we know from the last general election. There was a whole lot of punditry in the last election, with nonsensical polls that were an entire waste of money.
“They said I was going to be demolished and then when it came to the election, I won on a streak. So that kind of punditry is totally useless,” he added.
