Report recommends Dublin mayor to take over transport and waste

16/12/2013

The Forum on the Establishment of the Office of Directly Elected Mayor of Dublin report on the transfer of powers will be sent to Minister Phil Hogan this week and, according to The Irish Times, it contends that funding, staff and power should be taken from the National Transport Authority (NTA), Fáilte Ireland, the IDA, the Department of the Environment and other national organisations and transferred to a new Dublin mayor.

The report recommends that the mayor be given strong executive powers and control over a wide range of activities including transport, waste management, housing, planning, tourism, economic development and the fire services, as well as community and traffic policing.

The 22-member forum – headed by Lord Mayor of Dublin Oisin Quinn and including representatives of the four Dublin local authorities – spent the last five months formulating proposals for the powers, functions and structures of the new office.

Minister Hogan can accept or amend the recommendations, before the proposals are put to a vote of councillors in the four Dublin local authorities next March. Should a majority of councillors in each local authority approve the creation of the new office, the proposal will then be put to a Dubliners next summer.