The development of the Irish management system and the move towards directly elected mayors

The Irish local government system works on a partnership model, with powers shared between the elected members and the appointed manager or chief executive. Within this system, each local authority elects a mayor on an annual basis from among its own members. In 2001 legislation was passed which proposed a drastic change to the office of mayor, and potentially to the role of the manager. The Local Government Act, 2001, provided for the direct election of mayors with executive powers. The proposal was dropped in 2003 but resurfaced in a 2008 Green Paper. This Green Paper never proceeded to legislation but six years later Minister Phil Hogan, TD, provided for the direct election of a mayor in Dublin in the Local Government Reform Act, 2014. The minister, however, inserted a clause that each of the four Dublin local authorities would firstly have to adopt a resolution in favour of holding a plebiscite in Dublin on the issue. Fingal County Council voted against and so the issue of a directly elected mayor was shelved again. Undoubtedly it will reappear at some point in the near future and it is hoped that a meaningful debate on the issue will lead to greater clarity on details, especially the precise powers of the mayor.