THE DEPARTMENT OF Environment, Community and Local Government has hit back at the Green Party following a survey it did about Dublin councillors’ views on having a directly-elected mayor for the city.
The survey, which asked all 129 councillors if they were in favour or against proposals, found that 30 still have not decided. Green Party leader Eamon Ryan accused Minister Phil Hogan of “leaving people guessing on what his plans are” and the party said the survey showed “confusion” among councillors.
In response to a query from TheJournal.ie, a spokesperson for the minister slammed the comments as “more of the usual rhetoric from the Green Party, criticising Minister Hogan for not making progress quickly enough on something the Green Party in government promised to deliver and failed to do so”.
“Much the same as their promise to deliver a septic registration system and climate change legislation which they also failed to deliver,” they said.
The minister is currently examining a report prepared by a forum of members from the four Dublin local authorities which considered the possible options for local governance, including the office of a directly-elected mayor. His office said:
The proposals for the office of directly elected mayor are those as identified by the locally elected members, and once he is satisfied that a plebiscite on this proposal can be held, the minister’s role is to provide as much certainty as possible in relation to the implications of their proposal for the electorate, should the proposal prepared by the forum be accepted by a majority of the elected members of each of the councils by 31 March 2014.
They added that the role of adjusting the proposal prepared by the locally elected members of the forum, and any confusion associated to it “cannot be laid at the door of the minister.
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