Property tax review long-fingered: Tax deferral a failure of leadership

The official campaign to highlight the issues, the latent possibilities, around the idea of directly-elected mayors for Cork, Limerick, and Waterford begins today. The Government has proposed that directly-elected mayors would assume some or all of the functions which are now the responsibilities of council chief executives. It is proposed that the first elections take place in 2021 allowing the first incumbent two and a half years in office, a term that would be extended to five years from 2024. Voters in the relevant areas will be asked to make a decision on the proposal on May 24, the day local and European elections and the referendum on the revision of divorce legislation will also be decided. Which will, all in all, make for a busy day for local, Irish and European democracy.

Advocating the change when he spoke in Cork last week, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar suggested directly-elected mayors would have a mandate that would give them a very strong hand in negotiations with central government, especially funding. “They will carry weight... when they come to central government... It’s going to be much harder... not to listen to that person, not to do something,” he predicted.