#Elections2019: 'The outcome didn't come as a surprise' - Lord Mayor reacts to plebiscite 'no' vote

The Yes campaign for a directly elected Lord Mayor in Cork has been criticised by the present incumbent, who said there was no surprise the plebiscite was turned down by just over half of the voting public.

Independent councillor Mick Finn revealed that he voted against the proposal - not because he does not support the concept, but because of a lack of clarity around the powers of the role and how it would be paid for.

“The outcome didn't come as any great surprise to me,” the Lord Mayor said.

“Due to the mayoral duties, I didn't get out very often, but even in the limited time that I was out and about it was actually one of the main subjects raised and people were genuinely confused with what was being proposed and how it would be paid for.

“I think there was a lot of mixed messaging from government as well. We had one person saying that the money would come from central funds, then the next person saying it would have to come from local government's own resources, which is taking a three, four or €500,000 hit. It would be a big ask of a council, given the kind of budgetary constraints.

“I voted against it myself, not because I didn't think it was a good idea, because I think it is, but I think more information needs to be given out; where it sits with the CE [Chief Executive], the extent of the executive powers and how it's going to be costed,” he said.

However the Lord Mayor believes there is still scope to introduce the local government reform despite the outcome.

It was a very tight vote and as far as I'm aware, the plebiscite isn't binding, anyway. If the government decided to press ahead with it I think they would be within their rights to do i given the small margin.

“But I think it has to be re-thought out and explained and just put on the table what exactly the powers will be, where it will sit with the CE's existing roles and how much it is going to cost and who is going to pay for it.

“I think if those kind of questions were answered it might have been a different story, but I think the government, and the whole campaign behind it was poorly thought out and leaving it six weeks before the election before embarking on a public information campaign was not giving people enough time and very insufficient. I think it was handled poorly,” he said.

The Lord Mayor also said holding the plebiscite at the same time of three other votes did not help its chances of passing.

“It was a low turnout, and you had four votes and I think for people it was a complex enough thing to do, even to read through the papers that were so big in Cork. A lot of the ward papers were extremely complicated or hard to negotiate. But I think the primary reason is that people didn't have enough information,” he said.