Lord Mayor of Cork

gbee

The Lord Mayor's office is the first citizen, in the process of business is not subject to by-laws as ordinary citizens.

We got the title Lord as a reward for being good loyalists to the UK Crown.

The Lord Mayor is admiral of the harbour and annually throws the dart to reassert his powers. In times past he would have been the first magistrate too, though, as today, these duties would be carried out by others.

The Mayoralty is mostly a figurative feature as the real boss of the city is the city manager, a position introduced to stop cronyism and corruption that was seen to attach itself to high council officials all over Ireland. Effectively a second government that is never elected, that pattern continues to the Dail.

There is a move in Ireland to remove the annual in party agreements of 'electing' a Mayor to making an American model for five years and the readoption of powers lost to the civil service.

Cork's Lord Mayor could be a very powerful person in the near future.

I never went to UCC so I can't say discuss, so chat OK!

BarneyMagee

The City Manager undoubtedly has the real power.
Therefore in its current guise the City and County Councils are too big.
There are 31 city councillors. Even when they agree on something en masse their power is quite limited.
Either the City Manager and the Lord Mayor should be combined into a single elected position or else the number of councillors should be cut significantly.

getz

a lord mayor is the first citizen of the city normaly elected by fellow councillors,but if yours is anthing like the UKs,he will be a freemason.

Political position, one for the lads, complete waste of money and when FF are in power we get some right numpties as Lord Mayor. Lord Mayor doesn't give anything back for what they get. Pr1cking about giving visiting schools etc, ffs.

getz

RoverJames wrote: »

Political position, one for the lads, complete waste of money and when FF are in power we get some right numpties as Lord Mayor. Lord Mayor doesn't give anything back for what they get. Pr1cking about giving visiting schools etc, ffs.

i always understood that the lord mayor was already a councillor and he/she is just a elected leader

getz

getz wrote: »

i always understood that the lord mayor was already a councillor and he/she is just a elected leader

They get more money to be Lord Mayor, councillors are part time, the Lord Mayor is full time, long days too attending functions and whatnot. Also the driver gets paid too. Although I would think they couldn't claim as much expenses the year they are Lord Mayor, never know with politicians though.

Cape Clear

Same salary as a TD 100k or so plus expenses. It was increased for 2005 capital of culture and guess what never reduced again. a breeding ground for media whores aka dara all round gob ****z murphy

razorblunt

Absolutely ridiculous amount of money for doing sfa!
Should drop the "Lord" part as well, how O'Connell got away without question in the Prendeville fiasco is questionable also.

Looks like it's totally undemocratic since it is essentially a FF-FG-Labour merry go round.

gbee

razorblunt wrote: »

Looks like it's totally undemocratic since it is essentially a FF-FG-Labour merry go round.

No looks about it, it's arranged and whilst there is a vote for technical reasons, it's agreed in advance and only one or two independent councillors will vote no or nominate someone else, but it's a futile gesture in reality.

FoxT

I wonder if FF will retain enough seats to stay on that nice little rota....