In 1991 I was elected as a councillor onto Dublin City Council. Before we took our seats on the new City Council we were issued with robes to wear for the formal first meeting. As a councillor my robes were green and blue. Councillors first elected in their ward were referred to as aldermen and wore the same robes but with an extra yellow strip indicating their status.
However, as I walked into my first meeting in Council Chamber I spied someone wearing bright purple robes. This was Frank Feely the unelected City Manager, whose self-chosen robes summed up the anti-democratic nature of local government in Ireland since the 1920s. Not only did he get to choose his own robes, but he, and all other unelected city officials then and now have huge powers over decisions that affect our lives.
A year ago I tweeted that the “Dublin Mayor idea will die a slow painful death by way of committee. Bad for Dublin, bad for Ireland.” Unless there is a change of heart by Fingal councillors this may well be the outcome. Apparently they aren’t overly enthusiastic about a directly-elected mayor, and have the power to block the proposal. Asking the sitting councillors of Dublin whether they want a directly elected mayor is like asking turkeys for their views on Christmas. They may well decline, given that their status depends on the status quo. Had the Green Party’s proposals for a directly elected Mayor for Dublin come to fruition we would have had a Mayor for all of Dublin directly elected by the people of Dublin next May, rather than the Fine Gael proposals that at best will result in a mayoral election in five years time.
The blame can be firmly put at Phil Hogan’s door for setting up a process that seems doomed to fail, unless there is a change of heart. Even his master-plan for local government reform “Putting People First” contains a breath-taking anti-urban bias as he proposes giving Dublin City equal powers to Westmeath on regional issues. It seems clear, that although Phil Hogan is Minister for the Environment, he is also a Fine Gael TD for the Carlow-Kilkenny constituency, and doesn’t want to devolve power to Dublin or other cities.
Currently national government decide on the important issues that cities should be deciding, and councillors are mostly left to sort out issues of maladministration. It doesn’t have to be this way; around the world great cities have good mayors. There are many examples of mayoral vision from strong and coherent city leaders. The challenge in Dublin is that the current divide and conquer approach of four different local authorities with four different agendas, managers and mayors elected on a revolving basis is confusing and dysfunctional. Henry Kissinger asked who he would talk to if he wanted to talk to Europe. We need someone to talk to when we want to talk to Dublin. The current mayoral system operates on a revolving door basis every twelve months, and ensuring a disturbing lack of continuity in city governance. We need a strong voice, an Ed Koch, a Pasqual Maragall or, whether we like him or not, a Boris Johnson. We need someone who has a strong, coherent vision for Dublin.
All across the world, strong cities have directly elected mayors. Georges Frêche one of the most colourful and controversial voices in the south of France was mayor of Montpelier for 27 years. Under his mayoralty the city thrived. That is why most French people when asked say they would like to live in Montpelier. Barcelona would not be the same without the legacy of Pasqual Maragall, who transformed that city from industrial backwater to hosting the 1992 Olympics. He made the city tick, and work effectively because he was a strong and dynamic civil leader who united the city and brought the Games to Barcelona. We all remember the scenes at the diving events, where the divers competed with the city as a backdrop. That was no accident, it happened because there was a strong mayor. We need such a mayor in Dublin.
We need the strong strategies and policies, which come with a directly-elected mayor. Four separate systems are not working. When Fingal speaks with one voice, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown with another, South Dublin and Dublin City with others still, there is no coherence, and no metropolitan vision for the nation’s capital. Visitors who come to Dublin are constantly confused about the various mayors from each of the city’s local authorities. It is not just visitors but Dubliners who do not understand how the mayoralty chain revolves every 12 months between different people who are briefly a voice for Dublin and then disappear from public view. However, against the odds though we have had some great mayors in Dublin city. I have strong memories of Carmencita Hederman and her fantastic contribution to the city during its Millennium year. Half way through the millennium year, she was replaced. That is no way to run a city or a region. Dublin is the driver for so much of the nation. We cannot change leaders every 12 months and expect coherent and effective leadership for the city.
If one does not like what the mayor does, one can still kick him or her out by using one’s vote. Under the current system this cannot happen. This gives the permanent government of county managers who in place for seven years the upper hand, and diminishes the role of elected representatives.
The legislation introduced by the Green Party in the last Government provided for a mayor who would co-ordinate water, waste, transport and planning policies. Time and again, we return to the legacy of bad planning decisions across the country. The people of Dublin are still picking up the tab for mad rezoning decisions that took place in Dublin County Council in the 1980s. Councillors were allowed rezone land without any sense of responsibility and without a mayor who had the bigger picture about what the city might be. When it comes down to strategy, plans and implementation, a directly elected Dublin mayor will have a coherent voice and will be there for the long haul.
In many places, a city’s lifeblood - its economy, cultural life and sense of place - is channelled through its mayor’s office. One only has to look at Shirley Clarke Franklin in Atlanta, Martin O’Malley in Baltimore, and Fiorello La Guardia in New York City, all strong dynamic people who made things happen. I can easily recall the last four mayors of New York City – Ed Koch, David Dinkins, Michael Bloomberg and Rudolph Giuliani. They all contributed to making New York great. The same kind of voice is needed in Dublin. The nations’ capital needs a directly elected mayor. Such an office will be good for Dublin City, the four counties of Dublin, and for Ireland. With the election of a mayor, democracy would be transformed and the days of unelected managers who could chose to wear purple robes will be gone for ever.
Ouch, that hurt!
It's small comfort, but it was great to meet up with Garret Fitzgerald and Mick Rafferty in the RTÉ Election studio in Donnybrook as the votes were being counted on Saturday 6th June.
Mick took over on Dublin City Council after Tony Gregory stepped down, and after a few years he passed on his seat to Maureen O'Sullivan who was in the process of being elected to the Dáil that Saturday that we were in studio. Mick is a real renaissance man, and compared to his work as an activist, organiser and Thespian I suspect that the minutiae of Dublin City Council's Traffic sub-Committee didn't quite engage him sufficiently. Garret was in fine form, and had several tomes of results from elections past with him, and almost every number on each page had his own annotations about the particular results.
It was a rough result for the Green Party and it is tough not to have representation for the next five years on Dublin and Dún Laoghaire Councils. There's enormous scope in the capital to deliver on Green Party policies, and it hurts to be sit so hard within the Pale. We have achieved a considerable amount in the Departments that fall under control of Green Ministers, but there wasn't enough airspace to make that point in the recent campaign. People were mad as hell about the wasted opportunities of the boom years and while Fianna Fáil were taking the brunt of the kick, we were also a target.
We could walk away from government, and unless there's greater delivery of Green Party policies, particularly in areas of responsibility that don't fall directly under our control I think we should. The failure to publish the Civil Unions legislation before the Local and European elections definitely cost us votes. There's other areas where we have to ramp up Green Party policy delivery. Another round of significant cuts is on the cards in the December budget, and unless we see reforms within education, health and social welfare, it would be hard to stand over additional billions being pared from their budgets.
I'm hoping that the Commission on Taxation's Report which is due out in July makes the case for radical changes in how we fund local government. I want to see local authorities given financial autonomy, and that may well be proposed. Some form of residential charge may be needed to replace the windfall receipts that we got from stamp duty during the boom years. I also want to see a climate change levy, and an assurance that any such charge will be poverty-proofed. The home energy grants are already creating jobs, and there's huge potential to ramp up and expand that programme to ensure that people on lower incomes have their homes well insulated and draught-proofed.
Speaking of reform, that's the theme of next week's Leviathan gig down at the Button Factory. I'll be speaking on the theme of Does Ireland Now Need Radical Political Reform?" along with Killian Forde, Noel Dempsey and that McWilliams fellah.
It's on Wednesday next 24th June 2009 at 8pm, so if the Government loses the usual 8.30 private members business vote next week, you can blame the Greens.
Finally, It's Election Day.
That's one of my favourite pics from the Campaign - Cllr. Ruairí Holohan buying 5c lemonade from some sharp business women in Carysfort Park in Blackrock, just a stone's throw from the Smurfit Business School. It was real lemonade, complete with pips.
That was the day it hit 25 degrees in the shade, and was much appreciated. Over a drink in Tonic on Temple Road later on that evening I tried to persuade Ruairí not to climb the old diving platform at Blackrock Baths to put a poster on the top, but I sensed I wouldn't win the argument.
Here I am in the back of Cllr. Tom Kivlehan's van on Corbawn lane in Shankill. It was like an oven in there yesterday, and you couldn't see a thing, as you tried to hold on through the mini-roundabouts.
Tom can eventually win over almost anyone at the doors:
-"Look, it's between Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin and myself for the last seat. You need a green voice on the Council."
Unfortunately, by the time he's done this, the rest of us have the entire road completed, but tenacity is vital part of any councillors' work. Tom's brother-in-law is a printer and that gave us a very nice turn-around for last minute leaflets last Wednesday.
That last pic is of Cllr. Gene Feighery and some of her crew at around nine o'clock last night in Dalkey. Our smile's are a bit Queen Motherish, but that's got to be expected in the last hour of a campaign. Gene's husband Aidan used his management skills to arrange for a 12,000 print run of "Why Me?" newsletters to be distributed around her ward yesterday morning and I'm sure they'll swing a few wavering voters.
Clearly under the influence of Tom, I had a long wonderful conversation at a door in Dalkey last night. An elderly women - Eithne Doog had memories of my grandmother, which was quite extraordinary, as she would have died around 1963, the year I was born.
We ended up in Finnegans Pub in Dalkey afterwards for refreshment.That's where the fun started. Trevor Patton (The Patton Flyer candidate) and his crew appeared to have lost their way while canvassing pubs from early on that evening, and were in fine form. "Fight for your flights" is his slogan, not the most compatible with the Green Party's founding principles, but he was buying and we didn't complain. His other tag line is equally compelling: "If you can't beat them, join them, ... then beat them."
His mates were taking bets on how many votes he'd get. I put €5 on Trevor getting 273 votes, so we'll see how that pans out. If Patton is elected it'll be the first time on the face of it that a bus has won an election, but stranger things have happened in Irish politics. I like the way his flyers (Patton Flyer, boom, boom) have the timetable printed on one side. He reckons he's got about €50,000 worth of free advertising from his campaign. Hmmm. Several photos were taken as the night wore on, but hopefully none of them will see the light of day. All of his crowd had the whole cauliflower rosettes thing going on with red and green colours and goldy writing "Vote Trevor" which was a bit confusing towards the end of the evening. I summed it up as being a curious mix of Mayo meets the Tories in the Shires circa 1972, but I liked his style.
Today's relatively quiet. A few phone calls, a clatter of emails, and hopefully a trip to the movies this evening.
Good luck to all our candidates out there, I wish you well.
