{"id":282664,"date":"2025-07-22T14:04:20","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T14:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/282664\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T14:04:20","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T14:04:20","slug":"unworkable-plans-for-dublin-mayor-akin-to-brexit-former-lord-mayor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/282664\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Unworkable’ plans for Dublin Mayor ‘akin to Brexit’ – former Lord Mayor"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former Lord Mayor of Dublin has panned plans for a directly elected Mayor in the capital as \u201cunworkable\u201d and \u201cakin to Brexit\u201d.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

In recent days, Fine Gael has come out strongly in favour of the creation of a Dublin Mayor with sweeping powers over the capital city.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, speaking on Newstalk Breakfast<\/b><\/a>, former Lord Mayor and Fianna F\u00e1il Councillor Daith\u00ed de R\u00f3iste said he favours a directly elected mayor in principle but thinks there is currently not enough detail out there.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s akin to Brexit, you\u2019ve no idea how it\u2019s going to be implemented, you\u2019ve no idea how it\u2019s going to work,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Labour Party has said Dubliners should vote in a plebiscite to gauge their views on the principle of an elected mayor, an idea Mr de R\u00f3iste labelled \u201cunworkable\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCalling for a plebiscite right now is akin to Brexit,\u201d he argued.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve no idea how getting people to vote on something that they\u2019ve no idea how it\u2019s going to be implemented [will work out].\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat report that was carried out by Jim Gavin in 2022 and passed in 2023, it talks about giving the directly elected Lord Mayor responsibility in 21 different areas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHousing, homelessness, climate change, police, transport and education.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve no idea how these powers are going to be devolved; we\u2019ve no idea if there\u2019s going to be a budget devolved with it or people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Monument Monument of Daniel O’Connell in Dublin. Picture by: Leonid Andronov \/ Alamy. 15 July 2015<\/p>\n

Mr de R\u00f3iste continued that few people are aware of just how powerful a directly elected mayor could be.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think many people understand that this directly mayor would be responsible for primary and secondary schools in the city,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWould be responsible for primary healthcare centres, the community healthcare teams, climate change, for transport, for policing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see central Government devolving those powers, I don\u2019t think the Ministers will, I think we\u2019d have a very fragmented system.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve no idea how it\u2019s going to be implemented.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\" Leinster House. Picture by: Leah Farrell \/ \u00a9 RollingNews.ie<\/p>\n

Also on the programme, Labour MEP for Dublin Aodh\u00e1n \u00d3 R\u00edord\u00e1in said a plebiscite should be held on the same day as the Presidential Election, arguing Dubliners should have the right to decide the issue themselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a commitment in the Programme for Government of consideration for a plebiscite; so you ask the people of Dublin first whether they want this office or not before you go through the process of establishing it,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only opportunity that we have of actually going to the polls over the next four years is the Presidential Election.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cKnowing politics as I do, it\u2019s very unlikely that the Government are going to have a one off plebiscite just for Dublin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll cite cost issues, they\u2019ll cite other issues and Dublin, unfortunately, has never been really seen as a political priority.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A Presidential Election is expected to be held in October or November, before President Higgins\u2019 term ends on November 11th.<\/p>\n

Main image: A man places his vote in a ballot box. Picture by: AP Photo\/Peter Morrison.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former Lord Mayor of Dublin has panned plans for a directly elected Mayor in the capital as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282665,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-282664","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-european-union","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114897267627776814","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}