Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have indicated that I will bring forward an amendment. I just do not see the rationale for the two separate offices. I do not think it will result in a workable solution. I hope I am proved wrong, but I fear that what we will have is a directly elected mayor with certain powers. Let us call him or her a príomh chomhairleoir but, essentially, he or she is elected in the same way as the current mayors are and has most of the powers of the current mayors, and there will be this tension between the two. Essentially, all it will achieve is to give even more power to the CEO, whose title will have changed but who enjoys a bit more power. It is a matter of the centralising of power in unelected civil servants, who are undoubtedly all very hard-working and very intelligent people but who do not enjoy a popular mandate from anybody to do anything. This is important if we are to maintain a belief in democracy and if people are to believe they can achieve change by going to a ballot box. As flawed as the manner in which elected representatives carry out their functions, it is important that certain functions are carried out by elected representatives. If somebody is to be given a mandate, it is important he or she has powers to implement that mandate, in my view, so I do not agree with the Minister of State. It goes back to the office of the príomh chomhairleoir or maintaining an indirectly elected mayor while at the same time having a directly elected mayor. I just do not see how that construct can work in reality, and I will bring forward an amendment-----