In May 2019 the people of Limerick voted on the issue of a directly elected mayor. To date, despite efforts by me and others to find out a timeline for when we would see the legislation and, crucially, when the election will take place, we have no update on that. I raised this issue in November with the Minister for Finance, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, and he said he would come back to be, which he did not unfortunately. I was also concerned when I heard a response by the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, to a question in the Dáil last week. The Minister of State said there is a big challenge in getting powers from Dublin devolved to Limerick. We can see the benefits that a directly elected mayor would bring into other jurisdictions, and I would appreciate any help colleagues can give me in this regard. I hope the Tánaiste will provide some clarity on this remark, as it suggests to me that there may be an effort by some Ministers and their Departments to limit the proposed powers of a future democratically elected mayor in Limerick. This would be an utter betrayal of what people voted for in 2019. The people expect the mayor to be more than a ribbon cutter, and any chance to dilute or withhold powers would be a significant problem for us. When we will see the legislation, and when can people vote for the elected mayor?

I met with the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, last night and at my request this was one of the issues on the agenda. I am very committed to the project of directly elected mayors. It was always the intention that the mayor would not just take on most of the functions of the chief executive of the local authority but would also have additional functions that would be devolved from central government. The legislation is progressing well, and it is intended that it would be in the House well before the summer, and hopefully enacted well before the summer. There is no date for the mayoral election yet because obviously the legislation must be enacted first. The intention is to have that legislation done before the summer recess. There is, quite frankly, some bureaucratic resistance from certain Departments - not mine - when it comes to the delegation and devolution of functions. It never goes as far as some people would want it to, but it should go far. In my view, this is the prototype for what could be done in Cork, Galway and Dublin. I really want it to work in Limerick, and we are determined that it should.

Is there a date for any election process?

No date.