With the end of the dual mandate imminent, TDs and senators throughout the State are beginning to watch their backs in the face of potential rivals,writes Michael O'Regan, Parliamentary Reporter
LEGISLATION paving the way for the end of the dual mandate is expected to contain a financial incentive to encourage TDs and senators to vacate their council seats next June, a year in advance of the 2004 local elections.
The Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Mr Cullen, is to publish the legislation shortly. A severance package for retiring councillors - worth about €7,600 - will be backdated to this June, so TDs and senators can give up their seats without losing any income. A provision allowing members of the Oireachtas access to local authority offices and officials is also expected to be included.
"The Minister recognises that national politicians gain from having access to information at local level," said a Department source.
Mr Cullen is particularly anxious that Fianna Fáil councillors make way for successors who will have a year to build up an electoral base. The 2004 local elections will represent a critical test for all the parties.
Not all Oireachtas members are happy with the ending of the dual mandate. Membership of a county council means access to the nitty-gritty of local politics, not least the provision of grants for remedial work on what are usually potholed country roads.
The Fine Gael TD for Mayo, Mr Michael Ring, whose consistently strong general election performances are due to his constituency work, has gone so far as to challenge the Government's decision in the courts.
"It is totally wrong. A county councillor will be able to run for the Dáil, but a TD cannot run for the council," he told The Irish Times. "What about doctors, solicitors and others, who continue with their professional lives while members of the Dáil and Seanad? Surely they are operating a dual mandate?"
Many agree with Mr Ring, believing that, at the end of the day, all politics is local and that the loss of their local authority base could erode their position as a TD. However, the die is cast and the Government's decision is irreversible.
"It is curtains for the dual mandate," conceded Kerry South Independent TD Mr Jackie Healy-Rae, whose opposition to the move in the last Dáil forced a Government U-turn on the issue. Mr Healy-Rae's son, Michael, is already a member of Kerry County Council. Yet another member of the Healy-Rae clan is likely to succeed the TD.
Ensuring a competent but compliant successor is critical. With most TDs and senators expected to stand down in June, a series of bruising selection conventions to find replacements is likely. All of the parties will be looking for people with the potential to challenge for an extra Dáil seat in the long term, but serving TDs will not want competition.
Most TDs will want their own nominee, but this may not be possible in cases where a long-serving local activist wants to be a councillor. The vacancies will be much sought after. Apart from gaining a foot on the electoral ladder, if the councillor harbours Oireachtas ambitions, the job carries an estimated income of €20,000 a year in allowances and expenses.
In the time-honoured tradition of Irish politics, many TDs and senators will see a relative as the best bet to replace them.
There are many precedents, over decades, for this, usually when the local TD was made a minister or minister of state. When, for instance, the Fianna Fáil TD for Wicklow, Mr Dick Roche, was made Minister of State for Foreign Affairs last June, his wife, Eleanor, took his place on Wicklow County Council.
Although most Oireachtas members are keeping their cards close to their chests, Mr Tom McEllistrim, the Kerry North Fianna Fáil TD, has already indicated that he would like his sister, Ms Ann McEllistrim, a Tralee-based teacher, to replace him. One rural TD observed: "The Succession Act will apply, where possible."
While TDs will be more concerned about their local base, senators will lose the close contact with their constituents which membership of a county council provided them. National conferences of councillors have been a useful forum in which to press the flesh. It will be more difficult to do so with the end of the dual mandate.