The Government is considering the repeal of its own new law providing for the direct election of mayors as its backbenchers mount growing resistance to local government reform on a range of fronts.
The Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, is now under intense pressure from within his own party not only to abandon the direct elections scheduled for 2004, but to back off proposals to bar Oireachtas members from sitting on local authorities.
The repeal of the law, just over a year after it was enacted, would represent a dramatic climbdown in the face of grassroots political pressure.
A spokesman for the Minister yesterday confirmed that Mr Cullen has pledged to look at these issues as he prepares new legislation on local government reform. Backbench TDs and local authority members have lobbied him intensively in recent weeks.
Responding to a report in yesterday's Ireland on Sunday newspaper, the spokesman said the Minister would consider the issue of mayors, the dual mandate and giving more power to councillors before producing new legislation next year.
To avoid the direct election of mayors in 2004 the Government will have to repeal sections of the Local Government Reform Act passed just last year.
That Act was itself severely watered down after objections by Fianna Fáil backbenchers and Independent TDs, on whose support the last government relied for its Dáil majority.
Backbenchers and councillors say their objections are based on a fear that single-issue, protest or celebrity candidates could be elected to mayoralties around the State.
However, many backbenchers also fear that the profile that a directly elected mayor from the same party would get over a five-year term could allow him or her to pose a significant general election threat to sitting TDs.
In order to reduce this threat, the Local Government Act passed last year stipulated that a directly elected mayor could not stand for the Dáil during his or her term of office and is disqualified from standing for 12 months after the term expires.
However, this has not fully assuaged the fears of sitting TDs in competitive constituencies.
At present, mayors or council chairs are elected by fellow-councillors, who may select only one of their number.
They serve just one year, as opposed to the five-year term stipulated for those directly elected in 2004.
The General Council of County Councillors recently met Mr Cullen to voice their objections to the new system which, they fear, would give a powerful local platform to rival politicians and protest movements.
The body representing councillors throughout the State threatened to take a High Court challenge to prevent direct elections taking place as planned in 2004.
A number of councillors have argued that the post of mayor should be restricted to people with at least five years' service on a local authority.
The post of mayor is expected to carry a stipend in the region of at least €25,000 a year, which is similar to the rate now enjoyed by many existing council chairs or mayors of city or county councils.
The proposal for the direct election of mayors is one of the few high-profile schemes surviving from local government reforms championed by the last minister for the environment, Mr Noel Dempsey, who is now Minister for Education.