Submitted By | Submission Excerpt | Full Submission |
| Maria Curtis Ui Chinneide | "I believe the privileged position acting as a Lord Mayor for the citizens & communities throughout our wonderful city & county should be that of an elected roll by the people of Dublin for the people of Dublin. " | Click Here |
| Cian Byrne | "A Directly Elected Mayor with the appropriate powers can help ease pressure on the government and generate investment that Dubliners deserve." | Click Here |
| Cllr. Dermot Lacey | "Introducing the direct election of longer-term Mayors is not the panacea for all our problems but it would be a major starting point. Quite simply, the people whom we are meant to serve deserve better." | Click Here |
| Anne Kinsella | "In every single agency I have worked in - I have been struck by the lack of positive male role models for young people. For all sorts of reasons the father figure can be absent from the home of many young people - even in some areas- around Croke Park!" | Click Here |
| Iulen Tazueco Manrique | "In order to find a balance between a strong local executive and a not excessively personalised elections, it would be a better idea to promote a change in the Local Government Acts so as to allow councillors to nominate the Lord Mayor by co-option. In my country, for example, all councillors hold a vote where a candidate who reaches the absolute majority holds the Lord Mayor position." | Click Here |
| Pat Commons | "A directly Elected executive Mayor can bring a business like approach to running the local authority and the myriad of red tape can be consigned to history. It is time that Ireland takes its' proper place in the modern local government system as is the case with many countries." | Click Here |
| Teresa Quinn | "Having holidayed in Lisbon and Rome recently, we need to make O’Connell St. and our city centre a place people would want to walk around and feel safe in. There was a high police presence in these cities. One felt safe walking around at night." | Click Here |
| Saundra Parkes | "The one topic everyone agreed upon, whether it was in Cavan, Roscommon or Kilkenny was Dublin is scruffy, neglected, dangerous and not a city that displays the best of Irishness. We are a multicultural society and our capital should reflect that. Also, the lack of homes and multi-layered/ high-rise buildings scream lack of inclusiveity." | Click Here |
| Ben Donohoe | "Great to see measures are being considered for a Dublin Lord Mayor with powers to improve our (lost)city. Lost city refers to my and many others I believe, that since COVID, the problems we have had before are multiplied. We have a considerable downturn in footfall and this in my view is directly related to a significant feeling of an unsafe City." | Click Here |
| Liam Doran | "The new mayor should have broad powers across housing and transport like what has been proposed in a piece in the Irish Times. However, the new position should also come with powers across health and especially local health services in areas in Dublin as well as having the power to appoint the Garda lead for Dublin (the assistant commissioner)." | Click Here |
| Eamonn Geoghegan | "I see no potential benefits associated with a directly elected Mayor of Dublin. A directly elected mayor may cause confusion with the establish separately elected councils, and may cause a focus on Dublin city while ignoring the greater Dublin area." | Click Here |
| Gerald O'Halloran | "I think a "super" mayor like Greater Manchester would be appropriate for all of Dublin (possibly greater Dublin area?)" | Click Here |
| Mick Fagan | "In my view the potential benefits and opportunities of a powerful elected mayor would be the proactive promotion, representation and marketing of Dublin city and county as an international city, a destination for investment and tourism." | Click Here |
| Alec Elliott | "This Mayor should be mandated to set out the future vision for the city and help bring it about, without being constrained by political necessity (e.g. re-election). Short term vision will not help the city but create 'white elephant' policies and projects." | Click Here |
| Ray Treacy | "If the mayor has no powers or budget its pointless. Why would politicians give up powers though so whole process needs to be transparent." | Click Here |
| Richard Barrett | "Ceremonial mayors in Dublin would cause widespread confusion and would soon be seen as pointless and probably inane." | Click Here |
| Patricia Daly | "Dublin City councillors appear to have little control nor influence over their employee, the City's CEO, Owen Keegan. (Why has he not retired?)" | Click Here |
| Ann Chapman | "Antisocial behaviour on streets and particularly on public transport must be addressed if we are to match the best cities in the world." | Click Here |
| John Carolan | "Council should stand aside and the mayor should be elected by the people for a term of 4years and no pension til retirement age." | Click Here |
| Breda Morahan | "A Mayor must only act on the feedback from the community they serve. Each community must be allowed a voice as to their pressing needs, which could be communicated even via e-mail, allowing suggestions and ideas to be directed to the mayoral office, as so much information is filtered and watered down before it gets near the mayor." | Click Here |
| Fiona Lynch | "I would hope an elected Mayor would focus on issues associated with crime in the Dublin particularly in the city." | Click Here |
| Graham Cooley | "Mayor should have veto and agenda setting powers. Too many cooks are ruining the pot and self interested parties are holding good plans at ransom." | Click Here |
| Joey Finneran | "Dublin is central to the state's economic activities, and therefore a Mayor may not be able to impact core issues. However, a singular body of oversight could improve finer details and make Dublin a more welcoming city for residents." | Click Here |
| John Conroy | "The mayor needs to have all the executive powers the manager now possesses. No point in two well-paid people doing roughly the same job. The manager needs to be replaced by an elected mayor for between four and seven years who has the power to run the city." | Click Here |
| Dermot O'Hara | "We need to rip up everything that has happened in our country since the rising and start again from scratch" | Click Here |
| Connie Higgins | "Dublin is a small city to warrent a two tiered structure and cost" | Click Here |
| Zoe Obeimhen | "Need a London style. Two tier. Issues like transport in the greater Dublin area need coordination and local knowledge" | Click Here |
| Jason O'Mahony | "A directly elected Mayor has the potential to be transformative in terms of being unique in Irish politics: a directly elected position with actual decision making powers." | Click Here |
| Justin Fleming | "I don't agree with a single elected Dublin authority because I think it would be too big and unwieldy, particularly relative to other local authorities in Ireland. My preference would be either the model in London or Paris or the model in Greater Manchester." | Click Here |
| Cllr. John Kennedy | "If a directly elected mayor is to be introduced, one model the Citizen's Assembly should consider adopting is that of the London mayoral office, where the mayor acts as a chiefexecutive of the Greater London Authority, as power is shared between the authority and 32 borough councils" | Click Here |
| Cllr. Anthony Lavin | "...I am in favour of a directly elected Mayor of Fingal and as such for each of the other Dublin Local Authorities and indeed for all Local Authorities in Ireland. I can see benefits as this would give a Mayor time to implement an agenda over her term (5 or 7 years) approved by the electorate and she would need to be re-elected to continue her agenda or propose a new one..." | Click Here |
| Cllr. Cathal Boland | "The position of Lord Mayor should be one of coordination of the four Dublin Authorities with each retaining their individual constituency and competencies. The principle of subsidiarity established by the Maastricht Treaty which asserted that a central authority should perform only those tasks which cannot be performed at a more local level should now be the guideline as to the powers, duties, and responsibility of this proposed new office." | Click Here |
| Cllr. Darragh Butler | "We strongly believe that under no circumstances should any consideration be given to merging any of the four Dublin regional authorities or changing their existing boundaries. The Councils were divided up for very good reasons 25+ years ago and they are working very effectively as is." | Click Here |
| Cllr. Sophie Nicoullaud | "Dublin is an entity. With urbanisation it has sprawled so much that borders only exist from a political point of view with random Local Authority signs in between housing estates. The actual design of the 4 Local Authorities represent the brutality of political decision making at a national level that doesn’t correspond to the daily reality of all Dubliners." | Click Here |
| John M Molloy | "Whilst in agreement with the proposal to have an elected Mayor with executive powers, I do believe that the first step must be to determine what the job description would be. In order to do that it is necessary, I suggest, to agree on the City's future function." | Click Here |
| Brendan Carr | "I feel that the initiative is politically driven in order to provide jobs for fifteen party members (based on 5 cities). The argument regarding political accountability is shallow. The political system has taken most of the powers, responsibilities and funding away from our local councils." | Click Here |
| Cllr. Joanne Tuffy | "There is a lack of democratic accountability at many levels right down to educational boards and the trend of Government has been to remove elected representation from bodies that heretofore had such representation." | Click Here |
| Aidan Carroll | "..the O’Connell street I remember is long gone, and it makes me, ( who loves my city ) very sad..." | Click Here |
| Dónal McCormack | "The structure must be given sufficient authority - ie the mayor should have a defined role and responsibilities, and not be a figurehead in name only." | Click Here |
| Theresa McEvoy | "I think one of the strengths of local government is the fact that they are local. The needs of the local area and delivery of public service is local." | Click Here |
| Richard Bruton, TD | "Local administration in Dublin has many strengths. However, it could do with more structured evaluation of its performance against reasonable benchmarks. It has struck a balance between powers reserved to councillors and those exercised by managers which works quite well. However, few councillors, being part timers, have the time or capacity to exercise their nominal powers effectively. This has seen something of a democratic deficit emerge." | Click Here |
Jim Conway, Director, Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly | "The regional assemblies, in the course of their European work, have witnessed the substantial impact
and influence of directly elected Mayors on regional spatial planning in an EU context. It would be
important for the Dublin Citizens’ Assembly to consider the experience of other European cities in this
regard." | Click Here |
| Joan Loughnane | "Ireland is a small island. We have far too much bureaucracy causing confusion and nobody accountable." | Click Here |
| Declan Hanley | "We need a Gaeltacht quarter in Dublin. Saving the Irish language is important." | Click Here |
| Peter O'Connor | "I can't see any benefit to having a Mayor . It will only add another layer to an already complicated decision making process plus all the additional costs associated with it." | Click Here |
Stephen Browne, Dublin Chamber | "If executed properly, the creation of a directly elected Mayor could be an important driver of Dublin’s future growth. If a half-hearted post is created, either at the individual local authority level or without the appropriate powers at the metropolitan level, then the position of directly elected Mayor will at best another layer of bureaucracy and at worst could be potentially damaging." | Click Here |
Leo Varadkar, TD, Tánaiste, Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment | "The Mayor should have a well resourced office similar to that of a Government Minister and a relationship with the Chief Executive akin to that of a Minister and Secretary-General with most decision-making powers resting with the Mayor." | Click Here |
Danielle Kirwan | "I am of the opinion that a directly elected mayor will be deeply unfair to the people of Dublin. You may ask why/how? Dublin city council has the largest population, if a mayor from that council was to be elected, how is it fair that this mayor gets to dictate how Fingal and the other 2 councils operate?" | Click Here |
Ranelagh Village
Improvement Group (RVIG) | "We highlight the importance of defining a clear Vision and Mission but this is not intended to downgrade the significance of other levels of activity, as well as the need for connections and feedback loops between all the processes of local government, as well as within the wider national and international context. The Mayor would consult widely and continuously regarding all these processes and areas of activity." | Click Here |
Alan Lawlor | "Too little power rests with elected council members. Too much with city engineer & with central government." | Click Here |
Tessa Stewart | "Local government across the country is very weak, which leaves us with a bad democracy deficit." | Click Here |
