The Mayor who came up with a ÔstretchÕ Mercedes

Date Published: {J}

I have very little experience of the concept of the ‘directly elected Mayor’ – a system which is now proposed for Dublin by Environment Minister John Gormley and, for which, it appears, we will see the legislation within a matter of a very short time.

My one experience of the power of a ‘real’ Mayor was in Strasbourg where an appeal for facilities by a bunch of ne’r-do-wells who included yours truly, resulted in the biggest binge in which I have ever taken part . . . and days spent in recovery from alcohol poisoning.

In a number of countries in Europe they have a very sophisticated and powerful system of local government – with the Mayor there having at his/her discretion a huge budget, a very large amount of autonomy and a system of administration which would be the envy of any Irish city, provided it had the necessary funds.

Local government in Ireland is largely hamstrung by the fact that local revenue collection is very constricted indeed . . . though, perhaps that yielded a cheer from business in the Galway City where business people have been complaining for years that they pay too much in Rates and in levies such as development charges.

However, they will have noted that the Rates this year were frozen in an effort to meet at least a fraction of the real difficulties which businesses are facing in the opening months of a year in which we have seen too much of the heartbreak of closures and job losses.

Of course this whole business of Rates levied on business premises was distorted more than 30 years ago when – as part of a Fianna Fáil giveaway Election Manifesto in 1977 – FF decided that one of the key ingredients in winning the election and ousting the Liam Cosgrave-led Fine Gael-Labour government, was to hold out the prospect of abolishing domestic Rates on ordinary households.

Up to then, Rates on family homes were one of the most hated – and feared – impositions. In harder times than we have even now, families scrimped and scraped together the money in what was called two ‘moieties’. That meant that you could divide the payment into two halves.

But, in a time of mass unemployment, mass emigration, and damn poor wages for those who had a job, putting together a figure like £70 per annum was quite a struggle for many. I remember in my father’s house, a few pounds would be put behind The Sacred Heart picture on the mantelpiece every now and again, and the mood got darker and darker as the payment date approached.

Of course, in 1977, the electorate fell for the ‘Rates abolition’ promise, hook, line and sinker. It was part of the reason why FF Leader Jack Lynch came back with a 20-seat majority in the Dáil. As part of the move, Lynch promised that central government would pay to local authorities the money for local services which they were losing because of Rates abolition.

Predictably, central government did not keep its promises of money to local authorities to help them fund services like water, sewerage and all the other things which any community needs. Central government persistently left the local authorities short of the money they needed.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.