Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Effectively, this is a directly elected mayor with executive powers. The cathaoirleach does not have executive powers at the moment. The príomh chomhairleoir will not have executive powers. The directly elected mayor will come into the chamber and report to the chamber on all the areas under his or her executive powers. The meeting will continue to be chaired by the príomh chomhairleoir, who is now the cathaoirleach in the different role. The IAG made a recommendation, which we accepted, which related to the separation of powers.

Once again, the legislation will be subject to review within the first three years. Obviously, we need to see how effective this is and how it works. It has worked in other jurisdictions. It is in place in New York and many other locations. Many of the local authorities in the UK have it. Once again, this was the benefit of the IAG report. It brought in a range of stakeholders, and this is what was put forward. We took what it put forward seriously because we want something that will work smoothly. We are into an area of the unknown - we accept that - but there is precedent for this working elsewhere in other jurisdictions.