Elected Dublin mayor ‘by June’

DUBLIN is on course to have a directly elected mayor this summer after legislation was produced to make it possible.

The heads of the bill were circulated this week and Environment Minister John Gormley expects it to be passed through the Dáil in March.

This would facilitate an election in June. And he said he already knew of parties who had approached celebrity candidates to run for the office.

He did not elaborate on which parties had made the move or who the personalities involved were.

Mr Gormley said the Mayor of Dublin will have roles in planning but will not sit on education and policing committees like its counterpart in London. Whoever is elected will be paid the same as a Cabinet minister.

However, Fine Gael’s environment spokesman Phil Hogan criticised the plan and said it was “half-baked”.

He said the concept had not been thought through and electing a mayor in June, out-of-sync with other local elections, would confuse voters and depress turnout.

Mr Gormley said the London role evolved over time and accepted different responsibilities as it became more established.

The Green Party leader announced the heads of the new bill in Kildare at his parliamentary party’s think-in.

Meanwhile, rugby pundit George Hook has announced he will run for Mayor of Dublin if Bertie Ahern runs for the office.

During an interview with Labour party councillor and former Dublin Lord Mayor, Dermot Lacey, on his Newstalk show – who is seeking his party’s nomination in the mayoral election – Mr Hook announced: “If your man Bertie throws his hat in the ring for mayor I am telling you now, that I will stand on an anti-Bertie platform against him because Bertie led us into this abyss that we find ourselves in and if he runs for dog catcher I will oppose him,” he said.