From top: voting during during the last European and Local Elections at Scoil Naomh Aine Presentation Primary School, Clondalkin, Dublin on May 23, 2015; Dan Boyle

On May 24 voters in Cork, Limerick and Waterford will face a rainbow of ballot papers.

In addition to being asked their choice as to who should represent them on their local councils and in the European Parliament, along with the rest of the country, two proposed constitutional changes will be put before them.

A fifth paper will be presented to these voters in the form of a plebiscite to ask whether an office of a directly elected Mayor should be created in these areas.

While this is a government initiative it is unclear to what extent the government actually supports, or believes in, this proposal.

This is a Fine Gael led government that since 2011 has sought to abolish the Seanad, has reduced the number of local councils and councillors, and has done sweet damn all in reversing the centralising of decision making towards national government.

Developing their proposal has been half hearted, to say the least. How the government intends to define the office remains vague. With a voters’ decision now only weeks away there is little indication that the government is being sincere in its intentions on this.

My cynicism has been heightened by reading a recent Irish Examiner article which got hold of cabinet memos that indicated support for this policy is somewhat lukewarm.

I assume the leaking of these memos has been deliberately done by those who are quite happy to talk the language of reform, while never really wanting to rock the boat.

These memos reveal that some cabinet ministers fear ‘too much power’ being allocated to directly elected Mayors.

The views of the Attorney General (which are meant to be confidential) state concerns that transferring such powers to a more local context, risks not availing of expertise that exists at a national, central, level.

Those of us who have seen Cork City Council defer to the Office of Public Works on how the character of the city’s quay walls should be irredeemably damaged, find this contention to be laughable.

Power should be diffuse. Power should be distributed. In devolving power downwards the winners will be our citizens and local communities. The losers will be those who seek to stifle change, afraid to let go, afraid that their citadels will become undefended.

They are ignorant to the extent that decision making has become over concentrated and as a result less efficient.

Politics, especially local politics, would be less reactionary and more inclusive, if decisions were made close to those most affected by such decisions. Resources, instead of being drip fed from national government, could be more directly used at a considerably smaller bureaucratic cost.

A greater sense of ownership among citizens and local communities could come about from an improved local democracy, that better involves them in the decision making process.

The cynic in me doesn’t believe this government actually wants directly elected Mayors, or indeed any real reform of local government. I would encourage voters in Cork, Limerick and Waterford to call the government’s bluff.

However weakly the government is making the case voters should vote for a directly elected Mayor. Establishing this office can provide a platform to reverse the trend of moving decision making powers away from local communities.

These votes in these cities could result in the government wanting what it gets instead of getting what it wants.

Dan Boyle is a former Green Party TD and Senator. He is running in the local elections in Cork in May  for the Green Party.  His column appears here every Thursday. Follow Dan on Twitter: @sendboyle

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