Londoners voted last week to elect their own lord mayor (rather than have councillors do it), but we will have to wait until later this year for legislation from the Minister for the Environment on a similar change. Noel Dempsey's package of local government reforms, which will include a £3,000 redundancy payment to long-serving councillors designed to bring forward young recruits; five-yearly elections held in tandem with the European elections; special local authority committees; directly elected mayors and chairmen and possibly an end to the dual mandate, should be in place for the next local government elections. These, the first in eight years, will take place in June 1999, on the same day MEPs are elected. The new lord mayor of Dublin, most likely the last elected under the old system, will be chosen by the council in July. Manoeuvres are already underway but even a contender wouldn't predict the outcome. If the alliance between FF and the Independents holds together, the prize will go to an Independent drawn from a hat but FF want it for themselves and the chosen one appears to be the Taoiseach's brother, Noel Ahern. As usual, nothing will really happen much before the deadline. It will be different in the future. If things progress as expected, mayoral candidates from 1999 onwards will put a manifesto to the public, US- style, and when elected they will rise or fall in following years on their performance. The old system whereby the mayoralty was ceremonial and the manager managed will be gone.
In the meantime, the Dublin's current Lord Mayor, FF's John Stafford, has had his term of office extended by a week. He wants to stay on for the Tour de France during the second week of July and the council voted to let him do so.