Fine Gael yesterday sharply criticised the Government decision to row back on its promise to provide for the direct election of lord mayors.
Mr Gay Mitchell TD said at the launch of a Fine Gael campaign for directly elected mayors that Dublin needed someone to stand up to central Government.
Fianna Fáil committed itself to provide for elected mayors in the Local Government Act 2001, he said.
"Clearly they (Fianna Fáil)have lost their nerve and are fearful that effective elected mayors might, by contrast, show up ineffective ministers for what they are," he added.
Mr Mitchell said the Government was repeatedly treating the electorate with contempt and proposing to rescind the law allowing for a directly elected lord mayor was another anti-democratic act.
Mr Mitchell, Lord Mayor of Dublin from 1992 to 1993, said the office was a privilege but that a one-year term was not enough to get meaningful work done. "The one-year term is wrong. It puts the real power in the hands of the officials."
A lord mayor elected for a five-year term would, he continued, be accountable to the people, give stable leadership and would not be subject to Department of the Environment direction.
