Green Party push for directly elected mayors in major cities

Regional mayors in Cork, Limerick, Waterford, as well as in Dublin, should be directly elected and in place for the next round of elections in 2019, the Green Party says.

Party leader Eamon Ryan said his bill is similar to Fianna Fáil’s and the proposal for a Dublin city mayor would work like in London.

Last night, the Dáil heard a debate on a bill brought by Fianna Fáil’s John Lahart which proposes a directly elected mayor for Dublin on a salary of up to €175,000 a year. The bill, which is not being opposed by the Government, aims to legislate for a key part of the Fianna Fáil general election manifesto commitment to give fresh leadership to local communities with directly elected mayors.

“Currently, Dublin has four local authorities, four chief executives, four mayors, 183 councillors, and countless State agencies in Dublin, often competing against each other rather than together. A directly-elected mayor would provide singular leadership to this structure,” he said.

He added: “It is vital that we provide for a new, more co-ordinated, collaborative approach with one overall figure in office. A new, directly-elected mayor will move beyond ceremonial purpose and into the position to concentrate on forming policy, allocating resources, alleviating problems in planning, housing, transport and other critical issues in the capital.”

The Government is opposing the Green proposal which would include a period of consultation to ensure voting in city mayors takes place by 2019 to coincide with the local elections then. City mayors would have the powers to tackle housing and transport problems, he said. He said the Greens, while in government with Fianna Fáil, were close to passing the same mayoral legislation.

He said that the Greens’ proposal for regional mayors is a key difference to the Fianna Fáil bill.

“It strengthens all of us if our cities work well. Our cities are not working. Planning in Cork, Galway and Limerick is a real problem,” he said.

He said he wants to know if Sinn Féin, Labour, the Social Democrats and others support the proposal.