My question is to the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government. In May, in conjunction with the local and European elections, the people of Limerick voted in a plebiscite to accept the principle and concept of a directly elected mayor. I raised the following issue with the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, last July by way of parliamentary question. What is the status of the legislation for the roll-out of the directly elected mayor? The Minister indicated to me in a written reply last July that he proposed to establish an implementation committee in early September. What is the status of that committee and what is the proposed membership of same? I believe its membership should be as broad as possible to include as many voices in Limerick as possible in light of the huge civil society campaign and buy-in to the principle of a directly elected mayor, which I support. It is great for democracy. In the context of the discussion we had earlier on promoting oversight of our local authorities, this will be a very positive oversight mechanism.

The principle of a directly elected mayor has been knocking around in the now Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government for nearly 15 years. I would welcome an update on the status of the legislation for the Limerick directly elected mayor and the implementation committee. Also, is it still the Minister's intention to hold the election for the position in May or June 2021, as indicated to me previously?

I thank the Deputy for his question. This was a fantastic decision made by the people of Limerick. To give credit where credit is due, Deputy Niall Collins did a great job, working with other parties and people, to get it over the line. It is a pity other members of his party did not take a similar view in places like Cork. However, that has been decided now.

I met the outgoing council manager in Limerick to talk through what needs to be done in terms of implementation. I also attended a public meeting organised by Senator Maria Byrne to discuss some of the issues that still need to be resolved. We are in the process of putting together the implementation group. Some people have been identified and approached. As stated by the Deputy, it is important there is a wide spectrum of representation, including people who have experience of being in local government working on the corporate side but also in terms of accessing services. All of these matters need to be addressed in the implementation group.

In terms of the timelines and legislation, the Minister of State, Deputy John Paul Phelan, will be the lead in taking the legislation through the relevant processes. We believe we can get this done. On the timeline, it is important the legislation for the first directly elected mayor of Limerick is in place for the next local elections to ensure that election can take place in tandem with the local elections. We will have an announcement on the implementation group very shortly.