Dual mandate of councillor and TD must be scrapped, says PD senator

ELECTED representatives must be forced to choose between the Dáil and local council membership, Progressive Democrats chairman Senator John Minihan said yesterday.

Mr Minihan’s comments come amid mounting speculation that the Government is set to push through the controversial measure in the coming Dáil term, a move which will dismay many backbench Fianna Fáil TDs.

Former Environment Minister Noel Dempsey lost his battle to have the measure adopted last year when he faced implacable opposition from the four government-supporting independent TDs and his own backbench colleagues. Mr Minihan said he and his party colleagues are determined that the dual mandate of councillor and TD or senator must end. He plans to withdraw from Cork City Council and also stand down in due course from his role as national party chairman.

He hopes the Government will revive efforts to abolish the dual mandate early in its term. The PDs supported Mr Dempsey’s ill-starred move in the last Government but that was not enough. “I would strongly recommend that the dual mandate should be abolished. Working on Cork City Council, I can see how the workload has increased enormously in recent times. I think it is high time to separate the two jobs,” he said in an interview in today’s Irish Examiner. Mr Minihan said he was conscious of TDs’ fears of being undermined by ambitious local councillors pushing the issues which really have a popular impact. But he argued that it is about educating the public and the politicians at the same time about the need to have national lawmakers as distinct from local representatives.

“The political parties can do a lot to control this sort of competition between TD and councillor and they can also choose their candidates for both areas with a view to that,” he said.

The PD chairman also argued that the future was promising for the Progressive Democrats. In government, the PDs will focus on promoting enterprise and tackling issues such as insurance costs to business as well as taking action on crime and public order.