Election of Dublin mayor should be put off, says Labour

LABOUR HAS demanded that the Government postpone holding the election for a Dublin mayor for two years.

Party environment spokesman Ciarán Lynch moved a second stage amendment to the Local Government (Mayor and Regional Authority of Dublin) Bill 2010 in the Dáil yesterday calling for the postponement.

Mr Lynch said that while Labour agreed in principle with the idea of a directly elected mayor for Dublin, the legislation clearly demonstrated that now was not the time for such a measure.

“This Bill provides for the creation of a super-structure, stuck somewhere between the office of the Minister for the Environment and the existing local authorities, a structure that, at a conservative estimate, will cost somewhere in the region of €5 million to €8 million,” he added.

He said that having examined the legislation, it could be argued that Minister for the Environment John Gormley envisaged the creation of a watchdog, acting on the department’s behalf like some commissioner over local government in Dublin.

Fine Gael spokesman Phil Hogan said the principle of a directly elected mayor also found political favour with his party.

However, he believed that it was not an appropriate time to proceed with the legislation and he urged that it be deferred until the European and local elections in 2014. He believed, he said, that it was “a vanity project” on the Minister’s part.

“He cannot wait to put it through in legislation out of a sense that he is creating history in local government,” he added.

“However, he is not creating any office that will enhance the city of Dublin while he is failing to reform existing local government structures.”

Introducing the Bill, Mr Gormley said the Dublin mayor would, from 2014, be titled Lord Mayor of Dublin to ensure that the pre-eminent local government leadership position in the Dublin region was occupied by a directly elected mayor.

The mayor’s statutory functions, he said, would include overseeing the future physical development of Dublin city and region by setting out planning guidelines. Operational matters, he said, would continue to rest with the four Dublin local authorities, working within the framework laid down by the mayor.

Mr Gormley said the cost would be met entirely from within the local government sector and would not involve additional resources. The new, strengthened regional authority provided for in the Bill would have 16 elected members, replacing a body of 30.

The election of a mayor, he said, was by far the most popular model among Ireland’s European neighbours. In North America, directly elected mayors were a very common form of local government leadership, said Mr Gormley.