A directly elected Lord Mayor of Dublin, along with other reforms, could make the capital a more democratic city, writes Paul Dillon
In May 2014 there will be a plebiscite in Dublin to ask citizens whether to support or reject an elected Lord Mayor for the city. An elected Lord Mayor of Dublin, with real responsibility and authority, could give the citizens of the capital more say and more influence over how the city is governed. This is badly needed.
A working group has been formed to consider the role and the jurisdiction for the new mayor. This group is made up of councillors from the capital’s four local authorities of Dublin City Council and the county councils of South Dublin, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown and Fingal, and they are debating changes to the current system considered by many to be undemocratic and in need of reform.
The county and city managers, who are not elected, hold the bulk of the powers that matter, powers that elsewhere lie with elected local councils. An elected mayor should have responsibility for transport, regional planning and economic development among other areas. The experience elsewhere has been that more powers and responsibilities can be added as the role develops.
The elected Lord Mayor should be for all of Dublin, and there should be no more need for a mayor for each of Dublin’s four local authorities. Proper accountability should be put in place.
In addition, new measures should be introduced to broaden democracy in the city by allowing citizens to launch petitions to direct policy, and giving citizens the authority to decide on major issues through referendums and plebiscites. Reforms that allow citizens to have more democratic control over the city are required if Dublin is to be shaped in the interests of the communities it comprises.
There is difficulty in calling for such reforms in the context of a present system. It is difficult to influence the thinking of powers and authorities that do not have to be accountable to citizens. Too many powers which should be vested locally, close to where decision-makers can be held accountable and influenced by citizens, are held nationally in our very centralised decision-making process, or rest with unelected authorities.
Give citizens a say
Having an election for a Lord Mayor with genuine authority and accountability will allow citizens to make decisions and choices about the future of the city as part of a genuine contest of ideas. It is about time we had this contest and made some decisions about how we want Dublin to develop.
The contest for Lord Mayor could put before the people different visions of the city and different ideas about how the capital ought to be run. Take the area of transport, for example. We are told that the Minister for Transport wishes to see up to 10 per cent of Dublin bus routes taken on by private operators and that this decision will be taken by cabinet. This is a long-standing Fine Gael policy, based on the ideological convictions of that party. But Fine Gael does not enjoy the support of the majority in Dublin, where this policy of liberalisation is to be introduced. It is not based on a serious study of the long-term transport needs of Dublin, or the consequence of the sell-off of profitable routes for cross subsidisation for routes less used. A contest for Lord Mayor with responsibilities for transport would allow for a real debate, and real choices to be made, about transport in the city.
A mayoral election would allow citizens to confront and make decisions on such issues as to what to do with derelict sites and vacant buildings. It would put visions of development before citizens, allowing for a new debate on the planning choices and options facing the city. This is badly needed, as such a debate has not yet taken place.
If we wish to make Dublin more democratic, there are a range of models, ideas and reforms that would allow citizens more say in the policies that govern the city. Those interested should promote the holding of plebiscites on major issues. These could be run at the same times as local and European elections. Plebiscites could be proposed by the mayor, by a certain number of councillors or by citizens gathering a required number of signatures. This would allow a democratic focus for the many campaigns that want to resolve the problems the city faces.
The concept of participatory budgeting ought to become a live issue in any campaign for a directly elected mayor. Participatory budgeting is a process of public deliberation in which citizens make decisions on how to allocate municipal or public budgets. It involves citizens discussing and deciding on public spending projects and represents real collective action. Participatory budgeting started in Puerto Alege in Brazil in the late 1980s and has since spread throughout Latin American and further afield. If implemented properly here, it would be an empowering system and a firm move away from the culture of clientelism.
The possibilities to broaden democratic participation should become part of any mayoral election campaign and, if implemented, could change the relationship between city authorities and the people in Dublin.
What kind of city?
What kind of city do we want Dublin to be? What is the appropriate way to design our infrastructure, plan our transport and allocate resources? These are the kind of questions that ought to be asked in a genuine contest of ideas regarding the future of the city. At the moment, Dublin lacks a basic democratic infrastructure to allow these decisions to be made and prompt this debate. Establishing an elected Lord Mayor would represent a dramatic – democratic – step forward.
Paul Dillon is an independent candidate local election candidate for the Crumlin-Kimmage ward in south Dublin.
