LOCAL GOVERNMENT REFORM
Dublin City Council should have more power. I support a directly elected mayor with an executive function. At present Councillors have limited influence on the City Manager and he or she operates subject to little democratic accountability. If there are shortcomings in local services, it should be possible to hold Councillors directly accountable for them.
I also support reducing the number of Councillors. At present here are 183 Councillors among the four Councils in Dublin. New York, a city of 8 million people, survives with with 51 council members. The sheer number of Councils and Councillors makes it difficult to achieve an efficient local government with genuine responsibilities.
