Cork to get directly elected Mayor

snotboogie

Dublin and Cork to have directly elected mayors
The Government has provisionally scheduled for the plebiscites to take place in October 2019. The elections are earmarked to take place at the same time as the local and European elections in the summer of 2019, with the mayor being elected for a five-year term.
The new mayors will have specified executive powers which will be limited initially but can be expanded, as happened in London. The mayor’s office, which will also have a “cabinet”, will have overarching strategic responsibility for planning and development, as well as in transport, marketing, tourism and attracting industry
Seems like fantastic news for the city

EnzoScifo

If the City can take control of transportation through the mayor, that would be huge for Cork.

namloc1980

EnzoScifo wrote: »

If the City can take control of transportation through the mayor, that would be huge for Cork.

The devil will be in the details but I would highly doubt the new mayor role will have "control" over transport. CIE are a law unto themselves.

j8wk2feszrnpao

namloc1980 wrote: »

The devil will be in the details but I would highly doubt the new mayor role will have "control" over transport. CIE are a law unto themselves.

Yip. An elected mayor sounds good; but if they are hamstrung by those who have unelected power, it’ll be meaningless.

cgcsb

Will the new elected mayors replace the 'lord mayors' or do we have to pay them a salary too?

Note democracy is not always a good thing, especially when it comes to transport. DCC wasted 7 years and 300mil just planning a bicycle lane that never happened. The project was taken off DCC and handed to the NTA to complete.

Luas Cross City was executed perfectly by private contractor, overseen by the NTA, Dublin City Council was tasked with supporting traffic management. A couple of weeks before the luas was due to open they published several unrelated plans. Then publicly climbed down and changed most of them after the car park lobbies complained and as of yet haven't implemented anything at all.

Don't expect Cork to be any different, the 'elected representatives' will be pea heads trying to please everyone for votes and don't have any training or qualifications in transport planning. Cork would be far better off petitioning the NTA for a greater % of their time and resources. Try to limit the damage your council and CIE can do.

Exiled1

Another nice little number for an aspiring TD or Minister!!
Does anybody seriously think a mayor can over-rule/hurry up/influence in any way the NRA, CIE, HSE, NTMA or the plethora of government agencies and quangos that run the country at their leisure??
Like every other mayoral job since old God's time their role will be handshaking and passing the buck to others.
However it will pay very well.
Sorry, have seen far too much of local 'government' to believe otherwise.

namloc1980

cgcsb wrote: »

Will the new elected mayors replace the 'lord mayors' or do we have to pay them a salary too?

From what I've read it seems the Lord Mayor role will continue to exist. More jobs for the boys and girls.

namloc1980

Eoghan Murphy confirmed in the Dail that this is being pushed back to 2024. Basically going onto the back burner where the idea will die off. What a useless shower we have really.

Ludo

Good decision. Complete waste of money to begin with.

namloc1980

Ludo wrote: »

Good decision. Complete waste of money to begin with.

Not really. Strong local government is better than highly centralised government at developing cities and regions. We're always bemoaning the lack of interest from Dublin based government in Cork so don't think we should be celebrating the loss of something that could have been a major positive for Cork.

snotboogie

namloc1980 wrote: »

Ludo wrote: »

Good decision. Complete waste of money to begin with.

Not really. Strong local government is better than highly centralised government at developing cities and regions. We're always bemoaning the lack of interest from Dublin based government in Cork so don't think we should be celebrating the loss of something that could have been a major positive for Cork.

This, I have no idea why there was such negativity here, it was a massive win for Cork

Ludo

Meh...if it was just another politician then no thanks. If it was someone qualified to plan and run a city then fine but we all know which it would be. Pointless.

cgcsb

It would be useful if it replaced lord mayors and unelected committies of former school teachers and general party hacks. I'd much prefer a technocracy consisting of less than a dozen of the world's top planners, we could easily afford it if it replaced the current mess.