Lord Mayor

foxybrowne

Would it be cool if we elected the Lord Mayor directly, or would it diminish the office?

gom

Currently the office of "Lord Mayor of Dublin" is a highly ceremonial position. The method in which mayors are selected and rotated is even less publicly accepted than the method Taoiseach is choosen.

The current mayor is a great mand and a Labour man at that but I feel Dublin would be better served with a directly elected mayor. Then the office of mayor would have the right to exercise more authority than present and might be able to replace the county manager. I think London is a good example to follow in this respects. The office of Mayor is like a grand political-manager with democractic accountability. SOmething the present manager of dublin does not have as he/she is appointed by the government of the time.

Yes to Direct Elections to the Mansion House
Supporters of a Direcctly Elected Dublin Mayor include:
Dublin Chamber of Commerce
The Labour Party since 2000
Fine Gael since the local elections
Tony Williams raised it at the PD conference (sudder - Mayor McDowell)
The Greens supported it in the LE2004 also


The only party that has an objection to directly elected DUblin mayors is FF. The reason probably being that it might stand as a threat to FF dominance if the relativly socially liberial and anti-farmer/green dublin politics keep FF out of Dublin in general. The reason we have such a poor system of local government is in fact down to FF desolving its powers in the 70s and the break up of the Dublin Corporation recently. A Directly elected mayor would be expected to wield significant executive powers such as changing rates, introducing various levies, capital investment projects such as a wireless area of the city or metro. A directly elected mayor would have the authority to form a small executive(max 5~ possibily of professional appointments) to help advise and lead the city.

Currently dublin is being held back by the rest of the country. If it wasn't for Dublin the rest of the country would not have nearly as much wealth as it currently has. If we had a directly elected mayor I could see more money staying in dublin that was created by dubliners and being spent on much needed capital investments like roads, rail/metro, dublin airport, community projects, community policing, harm reduction drug schemes etc etc.

The only losers in the directly elected dublin elections will be FF councillors and non-dubliners....

Dublin has been the engine of Ireland's economic growth, with the leading sectors of the economy - software, electronics, financial services, and tourism - clustered in the greater Dublin area. The Greater Dublin Area accounts for 48% of national Gross Value Added (GVA).

Its the least we deserve for decentralisation. If we don't get a directly elected mayor we should secseed from the rest of Ireland.

foxybrowne

I like it, you knows the stuff, but I don't like

gom wrote:

anti-farmer

one of the nicest things about the big smoke till recently is the good relations with the countryside, the lack of urban/rural divide. Lets not go down that road, we need the food for one.