Legislation providing for the direct election of mayors and council chairpersons will be published by the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, today. The Local Government Bill (2000) will disqualify TDs and senators from running in local elections from 2004 and will provide for the payment of councillors.
Under the legislation, local elections will have to be held every five years. At the next election, in 2004, voters will have two ballot papers; one for councillors in their local-authority ward and the other for mayor of the city or county council chairperson.
Strategic policy committees with representation from community interests will be established under the chairmanship of the local mayor.
The Bill also provides for county or city development boards, aimed at co-ordinating planning at local level.
To instil greater transparency in local government, councils will have to prepare a plan and publish an annual report. The functions of the city or county manager is contained in one of the sections of the Bill.
An independent commission to deal with local-authority boundary changes and local electoral reviews will also be set up. An area with 7,500 electors will be able to petition the Minister, "signed by at least 100 qualified electors", for the establishment of a town council.
According to Mr Dempsey, a salary and pension will be introduced for councillors to reflect their enhanced role in the new system. He will discuss salary levels with the local-authority representative associations when the Bill has been enacted. But he did say that a third of a senator's salary - about £8,000 - had been mentioned.
Mr Dempsey said that in the past it had been a concern that policy had been initiated and implemented by local-authority management and he was anxious the initiative would be taken by councillors. With a more enhanced, paid role this should be the case, he added.
Vacancies , caused by the death or resignation of councillors, will continue to be filled by co-option. However, the individual being nominated will have to come from the same party as the person whose departure caused the vacancy.
A mayor will not be able to hold office for more than two consecutive terms. In the case of a mayoral vacancy, if there is longer than 12 months remaining in the life of the council a byelection will be called.
The Bill sets out the procedures for local-authority boundary alterations and contains detailed sections on library and archival functions, as well as financial procedures and auditing systems.
The provisions for the sale of land held by a local authority are addressed, as are the procedures for making by-laws. A further section allows for public inquiries to be held "in relation to the performance of the functions of any local authority".
The system by which towns enter into twinning arrangements is also addressed.