By stalling Dublin Mayor, Government clearly doesn’t trust Dubliners

Green Party spokesperson for Local Government and Planning, Councillor Oisín O’Connor has expressed frustration at reports that the government will fudge on the Directly Elected Mayor for Dublin. Councillor O'Connor,  said "This week the government decided not to give Dubliners the chance to have a greater say in how our city is run. The government need to put the question to a public vote. It should be up to the people of Dublin to decide if we want to have a more direct input on the future of our city by directly electing a Mayor of Dublin."

Councillor O'Connor criticised the way the news was made public and called for Dublin TDs to step up to the mark: "Anonymous quotes from Ministers tell us what we already knew. Government ministers from across Ireland don't trust us, Dubliners, to make decisions about our own city. They're trying to distract us with sensationalist sound bites about how irresponsible Dublin voters could be if given the chance to directly elect a Mayor with real powers and resources to improve our city. Are Dublin TDs of government parties going to stay quiet while their party leaders hold back our capital city for fear of a Dublin Mayor showing them up?"

Calling for broader reform, the Green Party councillor reminded the government of the Dublin Citizen's Assembly chaired by Jim Gavin in 2022: "This is not just about the position of the Directly Elected Mayor for Dublin - this is about reforming local government across our capital city to bring decisions closer to the people. The Dublin Citizens Assembly published its report two and a half years ago, making 18 recommendations on how the government should roll out a Directly Elected Mayor and broader local government reform giving more power to councillors and the new Mayor on housing, childcare, infrastructure and transport. Making us more accountable to the people of the city."

The Green Party are insisting that the government bring forward plans without delay: "The government need to publish the details of what powers they propose the Directly Elected Mayor would take over from government departments and council management, run a wide information campaign about the proposed changes and set a date for Dubliners to vote on whether we modernise how our city is run or keep things as they've always been."

Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman TD highlighted that the 2025 Programme for Government has far weaker ambition on Directly Elected Mayors than the 2020 programme negotiated by the Green Party: “It’s clear that the sounds from government are that they’re no longer truly committed to devolving power to local government in this country, rolling back on a commitment given by the previous government to give all local authorities the option to introduce a Directly Elected Mayor for their area.”