The Minister for the Environment and Local Government is to invite the newly elected Lord Mayors and Chairs of Dublin councils to talks in early July to discuss how to take the issue of a directly elected mayor for the capital forward.
Phil Hogan revealed his plans in the Dáil today during Topical Issues after concerns were raised by Labour TD Kevin Humphreys on the need to hold a plebiscite for a directly elected mayor for Dublin.
Mr Hogan said he was committed to the concept of a directly elected mayor for Dublin and the Government remained committed to the notion for a vote on the matter.
Plans to allow the public to decide if they should get a directly elected mayor were put on hold last March when Fingal County Council voted against them.
Even though three councils South Dublin, Dublin City and Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown voted in favour of holding a vote, the proposal needed the backing of all four Dublin local authorities.
More than half of the councillors in Fingal County Council voted against a plan for a public vote - defeating the proposal.
Mr Humphreys said the need for a directly elected mayor had not gone away.
He said the citizens of Dublin were not given the opportunity to vote in a plebiscite on the matter and there was a need to allow Dubliners have their say.
But he said there was the space now to rethink the proposal and he called for the vote to take place next year at the same time as the referendum on same-sex marriage.
He said he believed it would add to the economic recovery of the city and the country.
Mr Hogan said it was regrettable that the four local authorities could not reach consensus about what should constitute the powers and functions of a directly elected mayor.
But he said it would have been wrong to ignore the views of Fingal County Council.
Mr Hogan said this did not mean to say that following a period of reflection the proposal could not be revisited.
