Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit, an Teachta O'Sullivan.

I welcome the Minister of State here again and thank him for coming to the House to address my Commencement matter. It asks for the Minister to confirm the nature of the Government's proposed review of legislation that established the electoral mayoralty of Limerick, and to make a statement on same.

To give the Minister of State a bit of background, I say that because there has been a lot of commentary about the Mayor of Limerick. It is also important to make the point at the very outset that on 24 May 2019, voters in Limerick approved a plebiscite supporting the creation of a directly elected mayor with executive functions for Limerick City and County Councils. That was a historic vote and day in local democracy and local government, and for Limerick because Limerick was, after all, the first in Ireland to approve a mayor with executive powers, initiating a process of legislation, reform and implementation.

I salute the Mayor, John Moran, a man of vast expertise and experience. He will say himself, as do the city and county councillors of Limerick, that there were always going to be challenges and difficulties. When you map out and scope out a vision and plan for local government, we cannot compare ourselves with any other local government structure or form across Europe. Of course, the long question always remains around us never having local government if we do not devolve powers from central government. We have, effectively, a local administration and I think, having read, followed and engaged with the city and county councillors of Limerick - which I do extensively - there are challenges but nothing that cannot be overcome. I want to recognise the enormous work that John Moran, as Mayor, has done there. He could have been in many things. He was in the Department of Finance. He brings a vast wealth of experience plus commercial aspects to the job. The various issues that may be challenging are not insurmountable. They can be dealt with.

John Moran went on to become the first directly elected Mayor for the county. Remember, he received 22.9% of the first preference votes and was, therefore, democratically elected Mayor of Limerick City and County Council in 2024.

That is the background.

We are now reading in the newspapers that the Government is going to carry out some sort of review. I welcome a review. I am sure the Mayor and the councillors welcome a review. Everyone welcomes a review. Over the past few days, we read that the Tánaiste was down in Cork and talked about the Minister of State's native city and the Cork city task force. This is great. We are going to see a task force on local government there, which is fantastic. We know Dublin city rejected the proposition of a directly elected mayor when it was put to it. That may be put to it again in another plebiscite or referendum. In the Dublin city task force, we talked about public services; community health; business and unions; arts, culture and tourism; private sector architecture; urban design; planning and all the things that go with local government and local democracy.

It is an exciting time for local government. We know that this week, the national task force on local government already signed off on this report last week and will be delivering it to the Department and the Minister tomorrow - Wednesday. Let us be clear and let us not have any ambiguity. Of course, we look forward to discussing issues around that but that is for another day.

Addressing this issue would be helpful for the people of Limerick and the staff of the city and county council. I acknowledge the director general of the council - he is the only director general of a local authority - and the challenges in his work. Wherever there is change and reform, with regard to the chief executive and the Mayor, there will be tensions and a bulwark for tensions but that is a good thing. It is not a bad thing so I would be interested in hearing what the Minister of State has to say.

Senator Boyhan has given a very level-headed and fair assessment of how the Limerick mayor is working out. Of course, it was never going to be without issues and was never going to go 100% smoothly. I spent 13 years on a local authority and one gripe we always had was that the chief executive was not directly elected and we were the ones who had to face the people and face the music on a five-year term. This was a response to that so I appreciate the Senator's assessment of it.

I will give the substantive response and touch on the review later. The Local Government (Mayor of Limerick) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2024 gives effect to the 2019 plebiscite where the people of Limerick voted to have a directly elected mayor. The legislation replaces the previous two-pillar structure with the elected council and the chief executive performing the functions of Limerick City and County Council with a three-pillar structure of the elected council, the Mayor and the director general, who was formerly the chief executive. The legislation makes no change to the primacy of the elected council, which retains all of its reserved functions. Under statute, it continues to govern the work of Limerick City and County Council and oversee the performance of the executive, including the Mayor.

The Príomh Chomhairleoir is a new role established by the 2024 Act and is held by a councillor, who chairs council meetings and is selected by the council each year. The Mayor serves a five-year term and is responsible for the functions outside the council chamber that were previously performed by the cathaoirleach, including the important representative role for Limerick.

The Mayor has new functions assigned under the Act, including preparing a mayoral programme as well as responsibility for strategic and policy functions previously carried out by the chief executive. These functions include proposing the annual budget and the corporate plan to the council, which has the final decision-making role by accepting them with or without amendments; strategic development, including proposing the development plan, which is a matter for the plenary council to agree; housing and building strategy, including proposing the housing strategy for approval as part of the development plan; road transport and safety; and environmental services.

Under the Act, the Mayor is an ex officio member of the council with similar rights, responsibilities and duties to other members. The director general is responsible for supporting the Mayor and the council in their roles, the day-to-day operations of the council and specific executive functions. These functions include staffing and human resources, the role of Accounting Officer and administering schemes, grants and enforcement.

The legislation is clear in its design of the roles of Mayor, Príomh Chomhairleoir and director general while preserving the democratic role of the elected members of the council. It mirrors the intention of the detailed policy proposals put before the people of Limerick in the 2019 plebiscite and reflects the recommendations of the independent implementation advisory group on the design of the mayoral office. Importantly, the legislation provides that the Minister will conduct a review of its operation and effectiveness not later than three years after the establishment of the mayoral office, that is, by mid-2027. This timeframe was viewed as an appropriate balance between assessing the new office in a timely way while also allowing time for the new arrangements to bed down.

As part of the review, the Minister shall consult with the Mayor, Limerick City and County Council, the consultative forum and other appropriate people. On the completion of the review, the Minister shall make a report to each House of the Oireachtas on its findings.

The review will commence in mid-2027, and there will be full consultation. I thank the Senator for his fair and level-headed assessment of this new ground of having a directly elected mayor and allowing that person to represent, in the best possible way, the people of Limerick and to take the appropriate steps to ensure that the city and county drive forward. I appreciate the Senator raising the matter. I hope I have given him enough detail on how the review will work.

The Minister of State has given more than enough detail. He said the review will take place in 2027 and that it will engage with the councils, which is important, various stakeholders, which is also important - I am glad it was confirmed - the consultative forum and other appropriate people. On completion of the review, the Minister will consider the report and make it available to both Houses of the Oireachtas. What more could you ask for? I thank the Minister of State. This will provide greater clarity and certainty to the elected members about what will actually be happening as opposed to what they are reading.

I will finish by wishing the Department, the Minister and the two other Ministers of State in the Department continued success with their work. The local democracy task force will be with them tomorrow. Ultimately, it will be a matter for the Minister to consider. The report will be submitted to the Minister and he will bring it to the Government. I hope there will not be a long delay. There is no point in just having a report. I understand that there is a suite of recommendations attached to this report. We need to see those implemented. The faster that happens, the better.

The Senator referred to the local democracy task force. I absolutely agree that its findings and recommendations have to be taken seriously. Local government is important, but it is not perfect. The Senator represents councillors and talks to them on a daily basis. He will know that there is often frustration about reserved functions and that councillors sometimes feel helpless. I felt I could get more done in the council than I can get done here, but that is a different matter.

Up here is the problem, not Cork.

We will have a review of the Oireachtas as well while we are at it. The Senator is 100% right. It will be interesting to see those findings. I assume that the findings and learnings about how the position of democratically elected Mayor of Limerick is working out will be worked in. It will be interesting to see what direction is taken.