John Gormley Gives us Another Election Next Year – Elected Dublin Mayor

Well, here comes the Bert. A stint as Mayor before a trip to the Aras? No harm to keeping his profile up. Either way, the government and John Gormley will be giving us another election next year as Dublin gets a directly elected mayor.

Some details below the fold – what do you think?

2010 will see the direct-election, by the people of the Dublin Region, of a highly-visible and accountable Mayor who will have the authority and powers to deliver real leadership for the city and region…

The Mayor will have responsibility for establishing strategic policy in relation to land-use planning, waste management, water services, and housing across the 4 major Dublin local authorities. The Mayor will also be chair of the Dublin Transport Authority, leading the Authority in delivering reliable, integrated and cost effective transport for the Greater Dublin Area…

The Mayor will oversee implementation by the Dublin local authorities of the agreed regional strategies. The Dublin local authorities will be required to ensure that their actions are in compliance with the Mayor*s regional plans and strategies, while retaining their role in adopting individual plans, strategies and budgets, and in the detail of implementation…

The Mayor will also bring key public and private sector partners together to promote a dynamic and enterprising city region. The integration of the activities of local government and the wider public service will be an important role for the Mayor, which will result in a better public service and improved services across the board.

The legislation wont be published until the commission on taxation report – which will make the position either powerful or powerless as it feeds into local government funding. The London Mayor – effectively president of London with a parliament to answer to – is an interesting model and what we get here will make for very interesting watching. Without doubt it is one of the biggest moves in local government in potential but the type of bodies they get control over and the relation between them and the council will be hugely determining.