We're getting an elected Lord Mayor for Dublin!

Darragh29

Well who will it be?

seamus

Bill Cullen :pac:

I think boards should field a candidate.

It will be an interesting one, you'll have a lot of freaks people independently putting themselves up for this; I wonder what the nomination requirements will be, if any?

Darragh29

I think Bill Cullen has enough on his plate for the moment with a car market on its t*ts...

IIMII

I can't believe John Gormley mentioned Bertie Aherne - I wish he would go away, he leftthe country in a complete mess

Dr Galen

more bureaucracy, quangos and confusion.
nice one

turgon

Any link?

Breezer

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0512/dublin.html

I found this bit interesting:

Environment minister John Gormley has announced that Dublin is to have a directly elected mayor next year.

The new mayor will be responsible for planning policy, waste management, water services and housing across the four major Dublin local authorities.

I always assumed the mayor would simply be head of Dublin City Council. Does this mean all Dublin residents will get a vote, rather than just those in the city?

Rebelheart

I don't think it will be a 'lord' mayor unless the English crown is authorising it. The first 'Lord Mayor' of Dublin was only in 1665 and authorised by Charles II of England. From 1229 until 1665 the title of the first citizen was Mayor of Dublin. Even professional historians have incorrectly referred to the mayor in medieval times as "lord" mayor.

But what I'd like to know is are they going to abolish the office of Lord Mayor now that there will be a real mayor of the city? The Drivetime programme this afternoon did not address that.

IIMII

Yes, f&ck the lord stuff, we live in a republic. My understanding was that it was to be a Mayor of Dublin

Mr. Incognito

I think it's a good idea- if he actually has real powers.

It did a lot for London and New York.

Why not. I'd like to see someone independent get in there.

IIMII

Yes. I really look forward to voting on this. Imagine the opportunity to vote directly on development, infrastructure etc. I'd love it

6th

Would be great if we picked a boardsie and help get them up and running for it. I'd suggest biko/magnus

lostexpectation

i'll repeat myself here, cos very important. and i want to see what people think

i wouldn't like to see a situation where the other leading candidates for mayor don't get in to the council, its too all or nothing, i want mayors who would be happy to be local councillors too, not just going for the big job, its more likely to be more celebrity, populist or somebody just using the position if the other leading candidates don't end up on the council as well, if it could voted on somehow at the same time as the local elections? and they have to go for the council too and if they get enough votes they become a councillor even if they don't win the separate mayoral election.

deadhead13

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/bertie-hints-at-lord-mayors-post-90620.html

Bertie definitely has his eye on it. Alot will depend on Mahon. I would like to think he would have no chance in being elected but......

Iwasfrozen

In b4 lock..

deadhead13

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

In b4 lock..

MikeC101

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

I think it's a good idea- if he actually has real powers.

It did a lot for London and New York.

Why not. I'd like to see someone independent get in there.

If it was to work like that, and we had someone elected who wasn't affiliated with a party, but was genuinely doing it to help better the city, that would be a fantastic thing.

Being Ireland I fear it will either be seen as a retirement home for party members, or a launching pad for the next dynamic young <insert political dynasty surname here> who couldn't get a Dáil seat.

turgon

To be frank Im not so happy with this idea of one man having control over planning. We all know what has happened in out past so I hope some constraints will be put.

"Half-baked" is also what I would describe it. I think a move like this should come within the context of a larger framework for local council reform. Its time the whole thing was tackled.

Trivia: London has both a directly elected Mayor and a Lord Mayor elected by the 108 guilds there.

JTfan

Pity Ronnie Drew has passed on....he'd have made a great Mayor.

PeakOutput

turgon wrote: »

To be frank Im not so happy with this idea of one man having control over planning.

he will be in charge of planning policy i doubt he will be looking at every case individually and signing the permissions

he will decide on policy and the authorities will follow it

Sleepy

And this will help the country how exactly?

Seems to me like it's just going to be another source of income for Bertie to top up his already overly-generous pensions add whatever the usual inflated salaries for his staff (i.e. half the locals in Fagins...)

If there's a half decent candidate I'll get out and canvas for them (despite living in Wicklow) just so I can say I tried to keep Bertie from syphoning off more of the exchequer...

Go on Dev, say'll you'll let us nominate ya!

Breezer

Sleepy wrote: »

And this will help the country how exactly?

Actually I think it's an excellent idea. At the moment far too much power lies in the hands of unelected county/city managers. If you look at any of the meeting minutes (certainly from my local council), most of it is taken up by elected councillors requesting things from this unelected manager, and him deciding whether or not he thinks these things are important enough to do. It'd be far better to have this person directly answerable to the people. I'd imagine that it will eventually be rolled out to the rest of the country too.

Now, on the other hand, if the mayor ends up being Bertie...

Agent Smith

i here by seek the boards.ie nomination.


i promise to bring pain and suffering to those who disagree with me.

caff

Agent Smith wrote: »

i here by seek the boards.ie nomination.


i promise to bring pain and suffering to those who disagree with me.

We could organise a two horse race.. the boards.ie candidate vs the politics.ie candidate


Not sure how this mayor thing could go, given the unpredictable moral nature of Irish politics... we could end up with the position been one of genuine influence and change, a dumping ground, a reward or a position to be abused for favours to ones friends.
I really hope they get it right.

Sleepy

Breezer wrote: »

Actually I think it's an excellent idea. At the moment far too much power lies in the hands of unelected county/city managers. If you look at any of the meeting minutes (certainly from my local council), most of it is taken up by elected councillors requesting things from this unelected manager, and him deciding whether or not he thinks these things are important enough to do. It'd be far better to have this person directly answerable to the people. I'd imagine that it will eventually be rolled out to the rest of the country too.

Now, on the other hand, if the mayor ends up being Bertie...

So because we can't rely on the person we're already paying to do a job to do it we need to hire someone else with all the expense of a ministerial-level salary, a staff, and an election every few years?

I know delegation of ministerial responsibility to a quango is the Oirish way but to my mind if an employee isn't performing, you replace them, you don't hire a second person to the same job.

I can see potential benefits to a mayor with executive power in Dublin but I'm not sure it's a luxury we can afford right now.

deadhead13

The new Mayor will earn the princely sum of 202,000euros per annum.

enda1

If this mayor does not also oversee public transport and infrasturctural issues then its not so interesting, if (s)he does then cool!

squonk

I hate the way everyone assumes it'll be a Bertie position. I think he'd have a nerve going for it after what he's done to this country. Naturally that won't stop him however. Also, why €200,000 pa? it's an elected position so surely half that amount would be more than genrous. We're not looking to attract the most qualified candidate with a monetarily incentivised package here! I actually think that a lesser salary might disuade the liggers like Bertie and encourage someone who actually wanted to make a difference to take up the position. You don't want the mayor to be ont he poverty line either but €110,000 I'm sure would satisfy a lot of us if the boss took us aside and told us that was what our new pay packet was to be

Fratton Fred

deadhead13 wrote: »

The new Mayor will earn the princely sum of 202,000euros per annum.

Compared to Boris johnston's £137k per year who is a mayor for a city with 7million more people in it.

Great benchmarking job.

Erin Go Brath

deadhead13 wrote: »

The new Mayor will earn the princely sum of 202,000euros per annum.

The Bert will definitely be putting himself forward so. The only hope is he'll be directing his campaign from mountjoy at that stage.

bcirl03

squonk wrote: »

I hate the way everyone assumes it'll be a Bertie position. I think he'd have a nerve going for it after what he's done to this country.

+1

Bertie would be the last person I'd like to see in.

icdg

Rebelheart wrote: »

I don't think it will be a 'lord' mayor unless the English crown is authorising it. The first 'Lord Mayor' of Dublin was only in 1665 and authorised by Charles II of England. From 1229 until 1665 the title of the first citizen was Mayor of Dublin. Even professional historians have incorrectly referred to the mayor in medieval times as "lord" mayor.

But what I'd like to know is are they going to abolish the office of Lord Mayor now that there will be a real mayor of the city? The Drivetime programme this afternoon did not address that.

As mentioned earlier there is both a Lord Mayor of London and a Mayor of London. The two are completely different offices however - the Mayor of London is the executive head of the Greater London Authority, which covers the 32 London boroughs, wheras the Lord Mayor of London is the titular head of London Corporation, which is the local government for the City of London, a mere square mile in size.

In theory a similar situation could exist here. I have not seen the proposed legislation, but it appears there is going to be no Greater Dublin Authority alongside the Mayor, merely a small "Mayor's Office". This could limit his power base very much in that he will be very much dependant on the officials in the four seperate councils to do his bidding, but they will have their own seperate County Managers to answer to. A new executive head should have a body to answer to, but it appears the mayor will be grafted on top of the existing legislation so it sounds like a receipe for trouble. The Mayor of London is accountable to the GLA, but who will the Mayor of Dublin be accountable to between elections.

Secondly, the major function Gormley is assigning to the Mayor is to be chair of the Dublin Transport Authority. He is obviously not talking to his colleague Noel Dempsey who announced months back, the DTA Act notwithstanding, that there will be no Dublin Transport Authority, or if there is, it will only exist for a short period before it is subsumed in a National Transport Authority. (see this Irish Times article - http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/motors/2009/0114/1231738221347.html ) I think there would be a very big issue if the Mayor of Dublin was to chair an authority that covered the entire country.

Breezer

Sleepy wrote: »

So because we can't rely on the person we're already paying to do a job to do it we need to hire someone else with all the expense of a ministerial-level salary, a staff, and an election every few years?

While I take your point about the expense, I think you need to look at who this 'we' is. We, the people of Dublin, do not appoint the county and city managers, and have no say over whether or not the job is being done right. Whereas we will elect the mayor and if the job isn't being done right, we can elect someone else. That's crucial.

I think €200,000 is obscene though. And since this mayor will presumably be taking some of the responsibilities currently in the hands of the managers, their salaries should also be reduced accordingly. I can't see it happening.

Iwasfrozen

The OP didn't provide an opinion with the origional post, thats against the forum rules.

deadhead13

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

The OP didn't provide an opinion with the origional post, thats against the forum rules.

Oh.

Dero

bcirl03 wrote: »

Bertie would be the last person I'd like to see in.

Exactly. Bertie in charge of planning? The mind boggles...

gearoidc

I heard Bertie (at his inarticulate best) on the radio saying that next year might be "a bit too soon" for him but that he would definitely consider it.

Is it possible that he could actually believe he his blameless for what has happened this country!!?????
Or that he thinks people believe the shiite he spouted at Mahon???!!!!


:mad:

Darragh29

Breezer wrote: »

While I take your point about the expense, I think you need to look at who this 'we' is. We, the people of Dublin, do not appoint the county and city managers, and have no say over whether or not the job is being done right. Whereas we will elect the mayor and if the job isn't being done right, we can elect someone else. That's crucial.

I think €200,000 is obscene though. And since this mayor will presumably be taking some of the responsibilities currently in the hands of the managers, their salaries should also be reduced accordingly. I can't see it happening.

+1. 200K is insanity for this job. 100K max.

vincenzo1975

George Hook said today on newstalk, that if bertie goes for it, that he will stand for mayor to oppose him.

step forward Mayor Hook.