Sir, – As committed to under the programme for government, a new citizens’ assembly to consider a directly elected mayor for Dublin, and a review of the local government structure (News, February 8th) is set to be formed in the upcoming months.
In addition to the participation of citizens to be randomly selected for the assembly, it is important that any review of local government in Dublin should encompass a meaningful mechanism for councillors to have their views taken into account, given their particular expertise in this area.
If a directly elected mayor is to be introduced, one model the citizens’ assembly should be presented with for review is that of the London mayoral office, where the mayor acts as a chief executive of the Greater London Authority, as power is shared between the authority and 32 borough councils. Our four existing Dublin councils ought to retain significant powers once co-existing alongside a directly elected mayor, with the principle being sustained that localised representation should still be accompanied by strong localised powers. – Yours, etc,
Cllr JOHN KENNEDY,
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(Fine Gael),
Dún Laoghaire
Rathdown County
Council Offices,
Dún Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.