Dublin to get elected Mayor
Dec | June 14, 2007Today sees a new government appointed in Ireland. The Green Party will enter government and have negotiated a program for government. Interestingly for Dublin is the following under Political Reform
We will introduce a directly elected Mayor for Dublin with executive powers by 2011
Interesting. Do you think a directly elected mayor would make things better? Does it matter who gets to live in that fancy house on Dawson Street and travel in that fancy carriage on St Patrick’s Day? Would you vote for a politician or a celebrity like say Bono should he run?
[...] Arts Consultant, Ciaran MacGonigal: “Once a year, have a public flogging of all the planning officials for their bad decisions . . .� “Directly elect a prefect or mayor for Dublin City for a term of five years.� (See Dec’s post from a few days ago.) [...]
It would be great to have a person with the authority to pull together all the strands of policy for Dublin. An integrated transport system might become possible at last.
However, can anyone really imagine a Taoiseach allowing an elected mayor of Dublin? Such a Mayor would be incredibly powerful – voted for by such a large and influential electorate, and controlling such a huge percentage of the economic life of the country – not to mention arts, culture and the rest.
Such a Mayor would be almost as high profile as the Taoiseach, and conflict would be inevitable. The idea has absolutely no chance whatsoever.
What is this obsession with Bono? He’s a mediocre singer in a mediocre band who made it mega big. Could he please go away?
Anyway, an elected Lord Mayor is a great idea. It would be more reprentative of peoples wishes. The problem however is that the Irish would probably vote idiots in.