Dubliners could vote next year on whether the capital should have a directly elected mayor with executive powers.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar indicated today that such a vote could be held on the same day as the local and European elections in early June 2024.
Cabinet ministers are today considering whether to press ahead with recommendations of the final report of the Dublin Citizens' Assembly.
Members of the assembly decided last year to recommend devolving 15 policy areas to a directly elected mayor and to hold a vote to decide on the establishment of the office.
These policy areas include homelessness, housing, community healthcare, transport, the environment and emergency services.
Speaking on his way into Cabinet this morning, the Taoiseach said the reports of the Citizens' Assemblies on the Dublin Mayor and also on biodiversity would be referred to Joint Oireachtas Committees.
Speaking on his way in to Cabinet this morning, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the reports of the Citizens' Assemblies on the Dublin mayor and also on biodiversity would be referred to Joint Oireachtas Committees.
"We will be looking for a report from those committees before the end of the year so we can then make a decision and respond from Government early in the new year with a view to putting a question to the people of Dublin at the same time as the local and European elections as to whether we should have a directly elected mayor and reform local government in Dublin."
The Citizens' Assembly also recommended that the mayor have the power to raise revenues and to borrow.
Members said the mayor should have the power to introduce new regulations and to convene meetings with local and national agencies, that they should be "above party politics" and should have a Cabinet made up of a majority of elected councillors.
Another recommendation was that the mayor would be elected for a five-year term, for a maximum of two terms.
