The Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Eoghan Murphy, TD and his colleague, the Minister of State for Local Government and Electoral Reform, John Paul Phelan, TD, today (2nd April 2019) published the Government’s detailed policy proposals for directly elected mayors with executive functions.

Plebiscites, in which the people of Cork City Council, Limerick City and County Council, and Waterford City and County Council areas will vote on the proposal for a directly elected mayor with executive functions for their Councils, will take place on 24 May 2019.

Under the Government’s proposals, a directly elected mayor with executive functions would:

perform a significant amount of the executive functions currently performed by local authority chief executives

prepare and oversee implementation of a programme of office (similar to a programme for government)

ensure that the chief executive performs the functions of the local authority in accordance with the mayor and elected council’s policies

be an ex-officio member and cathaoirleach of the elected council, contributing to the elected council’s exercise of their reserved functions

represent the entire local authority area at local, national and international level.

Public Information Campaign

The Local Government Act 2019 makes specific provision for information on the plebiscites to be brought to the attention of electors in each local authority area concerned, not later than 30 days before the plebiscite takes place. The information provided is required to be impartial and factual.

To facilitate and oversee the public information campaign, the Ministers have established a committee, independently chaired by a retired judge of the High Court, and including a suitably qualified and experienced senior counsel, relevant Departmental officials, representatives from the local authorities concerned and the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA).

The public information campaign is in preparation and will be launched over the next fortnight. The information campaign will include dissemination of a leaflet on the proposals to those on the Register of Electors in the three local authority areas concerned. It will also include detailed information on the website of the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government.

‘Directly Elected Mayors with Executive Functions: Detailed Policy Proposals’ can be downloaded here.