I have lived in Dublin West for a quarter of a century and have been a Member of Seanad Éireann for almost three years. However, I have never received as many calls, contacts or communications on any other issue in the past three years as I did in the space of the past 24 hours. They came from quite a number of people who expressed their displeasure at Fingal County Council's decision to deprive almost 1 million people in the city of Dublin of an opportunity to say "Yes" or "No" with regard to voting in a lord mayor of Dublin.

They were right.

In Dublin City Council 50 councillors out of 52 agreed with no opposition. In Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council 23 councillors out of 28 agreed, again with no opposition. In South County Dublin County Council 19 councillors agreed with three in opposition. However, in Fingal County Council 16 councillors said "No" to giving the citizens an opportunity. Of all the councillors who voted recently, a clear majority was in favour with 98 out of 127 being in favour. The issues raised yesterday and the reason these councillors did not go along with the proposal should have been raised in the past three months, when I was in this House, or when the matter was being discussed in newspapers and on television. I believe the aforementioned councillors have held the people of Dublin to ransom. I believe they are out of touch with the people.

That is not true.

This is all about new politics. The people of Dublin deserve a chance to say whether they are for or against the proposal, not 16 councillors. The Senator may be aware the Irish name for Fingal can be translated as "foreign tribe", a territory of foreigners. It is a medieval name and if the 274,000 citizens who live in what is the second most populous county in Ireland, including those in Dublin West, are not given a chance to say "Yes" or "No", I am afraid Fingal County Council still lives in mediaeval times.

The Senator should talk to Fingal's Fine Gael mayor, Mr. Kieran Dennison.

I call on the Minister, Deputy Phil Hogan, not to let this go away.

Is the Senator seeking a debate on the matter?

I call on him to identify another means of keeping this proposal on the agenda and to give the citizens of Dublin a opportunity to decide whether they wish to vote for a lord mayor.