THE DUBLIN mayoral elections are unlikely to be held until next autumn at the earliest, Minister for the Environment John Gormley has conceded.
Mr Gormley said his original date of next June now seemed overambitious. However, he said it was “certain” the elections would be held by the end of the year. The date depended on how long consultation took and the co-operation of other political parties.
“Realistically it’s probably looking like the autumn . . . I do want to make this legislation robust and make sure people are happy with it but I don’t want to overconsult at the same time.
“I can’t say for certain but what I can say it will be in 2010 – that’s for certain.”
Mr Gormley rejected claims that the office of mayor would be toothless because of a lack of a discretionary budget. The budgets of the four local authorities would have to comply with the policy set down by the mayor and he or she could direct the local authorities to amend their budgets, he said.
Future funding for the position and for local government in general would be detailed in the White Paper on local government reform, which he hoped to publish next May. Likely funding streams included property tax, water charges and congestion charges.
“I would foresee we would evolve into a London mayor style. That’s the sort of thing we want to go towards and of course congestion charges would be part of that.”
The introduction of a mayor would not have a great effect on the powers of councillors, but would dramatically change the role of the city and county mangers. Powers such as the control of waste management, which were taken several years ago from councillors and given to the managers, would be returned to the mayor.
The manager would now be subservient to the mayor and would have a secretary general or an assistant secretary general-type role.
“The mayor is the head man – it’s as simple as that. It is very much a new departure, up until now the manager was the one who had the power in Irish local government.”
He said the legislation would make it clear to the managers what their new position was.
“I’d imagine a lot of mangers wouldn’t think it is a good idea for obvious reasons . . . I’m not carrying out a counselling service. I don’t think it has to be explained to them.”
Dublin city manager John Tierney said yesterday that he would not be commenting on the proposals. He had discussed the matter with the city councillors.
Dublin business groups have raised concerns over whether the mayor will have real powers to run the city, or just become another figurehead.
“We don’t want a HSE type of local government where they retain four city managers and four mayors and just stick another mayor on top,” Tom Coffey, chief executive of the Dublin City Business Association said.
“What we don’t need is a sinecure for a retired politician or worse a failed politician, or a celebrity, which might be worse again.”
Mr Coffey said he favoured the New York mayoral model where the staff of the office are employed by the mayor and go if the mayor is not re-elected.
“We would prefer a New York not a London mayor, which is too restrictive in a modern democracy – tinkering about with a couple of buses doesn’t make you a mayor.”
Dublin Chamber of Commerce president Peter Brennan said the lack of power to raise local finance, the lack of responsibility for crisis management or the co-ordination of emergency services was a disadvantage.
Labour Senator Alex White said the draft plans were “toothless” and that the Greens had been outmanoeuvred by Fianna Fáil “which has never been enthusiastic about this proposal”.
Labour Senator calls plans for elected mayor 'toothless'
GREEN PARTY leader and Minister for the Environment John Gormley's plans for a directly-elected mayor of Dublin have been described as "disappointing" and "rather toothless" by Labour Senator Alex White, writes DEAGLÁN de BRÉADÚN Political Correspondent.
In a statement, Mr White said Mr Gormley's plans "raise serious questions about the viability of the office as proposed".
"The absence of any discretionary budget for the proposed mayor is a particular problem as is the lack of clarity as to how the new office will interact with the four existing local authorities in Dublin.
"The Labour Party welcomes the fact that the Heads of the Local Government [ Dublin Mayor and Regional Authority] Bill has at last been published. This is a comprehensive document, running to close to 300 pages.
"It is clear that the draft Bill will require significant further work," the Senator said, adding that it would take time for the Oireachtas to properly scrutinise it.
"In those circumstances, it seems impossible that the original June target date for the election will be met," he added.
"The rather toothless plans announced by Minister Gormley are in stark contrast to the Greens' own proposals," the statement continued.
"Once again, the Greens have been outmanoeuvred by Fianna Fáil which has never been enthusiastic about this proposal." He added: "This Bill will have to be significantly strengthened if we are to have a directly-elected mayor with real powers and a meaningful role."
