SHAME LANE
FF’s O’Callaghan insists elected mayor’s off ice with strong leadership is only way to halt capital’s decline and prevent more areas turning into
FIANNA Fáil justice spokesman Jim O’Callaghan has challenged Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to deliver the Coalition’s promise to hold a plebiscite on the creation of a directly elected mayor for Dublin.
The Dublin Bay South TD said the decision this week to close a citycentre laneway because of persistent drug use and anti-social behaviour underlines the capital’s need for something more than ‘ceremonial mayors’.
On Monday, Dublin City councillors voted to close off Harbour Court – which runs between Marlborough Street, opposite the Abbey Theatre and Eden Quay – to the public.
Dublin City Council admitted it was unable to control the street – just months after Justice Minister Helen McEntee insisted the city centre was ‘safe’.
Two Dublin Fianna Fáil TDs this weekend said the forced closure highlights the need for a stronger, directly elected mayor to take back the streets of the capital.
Deputy O’Callaghan told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘Unlike most international capitals, Dublin does not have an elected system of governance that is responsible and accountable on a daily basis for the most important public functions and services carried out in the city.
‘No elected Dublin official is answerable for safety on its streets
‘Policing now consists of closing streets’
or has a say in setting the strategic direction for its policing.
‘Notwithstanding the excellent work done by Dublin’s local authorities, their chief executives and ceremonial mayors, there is a clear absence of political leadership for this thriving and exciting international city.’
And the he warned ‘this will not change until it has an elected leader with real powers whom Dubliners can hold to account for the city’s failings and, indeed, successes’.
This view was echoed by his fellow Fianna Fáil TD John Lahart, who said the capital ‘is in a state of decay’.
The Dublin South-West TD told the MoS: ‘We need a supremo, a heavy hitter who is serious about Dublin and who can take decisions without fear or favour on policing, on transport, on cleaning and culture.
‘It is appalling that policing now consists of closing streets; we need someone who takes decisions and are not afraid to be judged.’
In 2022, the Dublin Citizens’ Assembly led by multi-All-Ireland winning manager Jim Gavin voted in favour of a directly elected mayor for the capital. The Assembly also voted for a plebiscite on the issue. ‘We need a champion, a single source of accountability… somebody who can say the bucks tops with me,’ Mr Gavin said at the time. But despite a commitment in the Programme for Government to hold a plebiscite on a directly elected Dublin mayor, there has been no concrete developments as the Coalition enters its final year in office.
In response to queries from the MoS, a spokesperson for the Electoral Commission (An Coimisiún Toghcháin) said: ‘The Local Government (Mayor of Limerick) and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill is currently before the Houses of the Oireachtas. This Bill provides for the arrangements for the holding of plebiscites, including a role for An Coimisiún Toghcháin in providing independent information for any such plebiscites and to encourage voting.
‘But aside from the recent Oireachtas Committee report on the Citizens’ Assembly recommendations, An Coimisiún is not aware of any firm proposals in relation to a plebiscite for a Directly Elected Mayor for Dublin.’
As the clock ticks the Coalition’s term in office, a spokesperson for the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage said: ‘The Joint Oireachtas Committee’s Report on the Dublin Citizens’ Assembly Report and Recommendations, which was published on December 20, will be a matter for Government to consider.
‘The Dublin Citizens’ Assembly Report and Recommendations are also under consideration in the Department with a view to preparing a comprehensive response for the Government’s consideration, which will be informed by the work of the Committee, in due course.’
However, concern is growing that the Government’s enthusiasm for a plebiscite is evaporating.
The Citizens’ Assembly previously warned that, unless a plebiscite was put to the people of Dublin in June this year to coincide with the local and European elections, the ballot would not happen.
But the prospect of a referendum on the issue is viewed with some apprehension in Government circles after voters in Cork and Waterford narrowly rejected proposals for directly elected mayors of their cities in 2019. In 2014, three of Dublin’s four councils voted in favour of establishing a directly elected mayoral office, but Fingal County Council rejected it.
A plebiscite in Limerick, which will hold its election this year, barely passed, with just 54% of the electorate voting in favour of a directly elected mayor.
Significantly, the Oireachtas Housing Committee report into the findings of the Citizens’ Assembly noted that: ‘Pursuant to legal advice from the Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers, the Committee understands that a plebiscite is not a legal requirement. However, a Fine Gael source warned: ‘Leo is going to have to be very careful; he doesn’t need to be seen snubbing Jim Gavin, or he might find out what it feels like to be Mayo.’
‘Leo is going to have to be very careful’