Some form of local tax or domestic rates should be reintroduced in Dublin to help fund the cost of running the city, Mr John Fitzgerald, Dublin city manager has said. However, he suggests that any such charges should be balanced by a reduction in personal taxation.

Mr Fitzgerald has also called for specific major projects to be "red-ringed" so that they are not subject to long planning delays which he regards as a major obstacle to development. Mr Fitzgerald was speaking prior to the introduction last night of the Corporation's estimates for 2000.

He said the strength of the economy meant that the Government now has the opportunity to introduce some form of taxation to help fund local authorities. Acknowledging that such charges could be controversial, he proposed that these should be balanced by income tax reductions.

Mr Fitzgerald unveiled the Corporation's spending plans for next year at the monthly council meeting last night. The Estimates propose a 3.45 per cent increase in commercial rates and a special 1 per cent levy for cleaning initiatives. These are expected to raise around £150 million (€190 million) of the £350 million needed to run the local authority for the next year.

The Corporation has about £1 billion in projects on hand - including the Ringsend sewage treatment plant (costing about £200 million) and a swathe of area renewal programmes, targeting specific areas of the city. These include the HARP project which entails upgrading Smithfield in the inner city and the surrounding area.

Mr Fitzgerald says a further £500 million of privately-backed projects are in hand and contends that the £350 million which it costs to run the city represents a relatively small part of the total public sector spend in the city.

He says the Corporation sees itself increasingly as not just a direct provider of services but as a body which extracts money to pay for those services. Mr Fitzgerald recalls that for 20 years, services were cut back because of the economic situation. The Corporation, he adds, "takes the view that these services should be restored", instead of being cut back.

Mr Fitzgerald maintains that the local authority tries to maintain rate increases at or around inflation. Although higher than the Consumer Price Index, he says the increases are lower than the building costs index, which is a more realistic measure and would run at in excess of 4 per cent.

The Corporation introduced a special 1 per cent levy last year, raising about £900,000 which Mr Fitzgerald says was used to increase the number of litter wardens, street sweeping and boosting awareness of the topic in schools.

Mr Fitzgerald sees a proactive role for the Corporation and says that if something needs to be done, rather than "wringing our hands and saying we do not have the money to do it, as has tended to happen in the past" the business community would prefer the Corporation to "just get up and do it".

He contends that the business community does not object to paying for such services, if it feels the services involved need to be provided.

Mr Fitzgerald says the Corporation has taken the same approach to the Estimates this year - ring-fencing 1 per cent of the commercial rates levy - to go towards cleaning the city early in the mornings and to providing a mobile warden service for parks.

He says Dublin has more parkland than any other European city and people need to feel safe in it. The wardens will provide "reassurance" to people who use the parks. "They won't be a police force, but they will approach people who are causing problems," he says.

This year's proposed 1 per cent cleaning special levy and the general 3.45 per cent increase will raise an additional £4.5 million.

Mr Fitzgerald argues that the Republic is probably unique in Europe because it does not have a local authority tax. He says being able to raise funds locally, provides local democracy, because you can decide where to spend money locally. He says that the abolition of domestic rates in 1977-78 was disastrous. "It was like using a sledgehammer to swat a fly. I think everybody accepts that now."

When rates were abolished, they were replaced by a direct grant from Government. This might have seemed like a nice panacea, he adds, because it meant that "you got a cheque through the door" every month. However, it had two distinct disadvantages - it put control back into the hands of central government and inevitably the monies were diluted over the years, as the Government had the power to decide whether monies (known as rates support grants) should be increased or not.

Mr Fitzgerald says the monies now bear no relationship to what local authorities would get if rates had not been abolished. Another disadvantage, he maintains, is that it removes the link between residential users and the Corporation.

The city manager has been associated with proposing a hotel bedroom tax in Dublin, a locally raised tax which is levied on hotel users in some other countries, including Belgium and France. However, Mr Fitzgerald says he only used it as an example, but he is in favour of raising taxes to be used locally.

He says if such taxes had existed, then Dublin would have had a sports stadium, or a convention centre, long ago. He favours a sports stadium near the city - in the docklands perhaps. "I think when people go to matches or concerts they want to go into the city for a meal or a few drinks," he adds, expressing the view that perhaps the Football Association of Ireland's (FAI) plans for a multi-purpose sports venue near Citywest may be too far out of town.

He believes it is vital that major projects should be "red-circled" so that they can be put through the planning process quickly. Although he acknowledges the democratic right of people to object to schemes, he says they seem to get bogged down in a three-stage approach - planning application and grant or refusal, appeal to the planning board and then the courts.

"We should be able to pick out certain projects of importance to the city. They shouldn't be allowed to get caught up in a lengthy process."

Mr Fitzgerald says the city's population - including the other three local authorities and Navan and Bray - could grow from 1.3 million to about 1.65 million within 10 years. He is not worried about problems which could occur in the next six months to two years.

"I have the solutions for those. What I have to look at is what problems the city is going to have in five to 10 years and find solutions for those."

Mr Fitzgerald is now in the third year of a seven-year term. Those who have dealt with him speak highly of his abilities. "There is a perception that the business community is being squeezed, but when Fitzgerald promises to deliver, he delivers," says a source.

Previously manager of South Dublin County Council, he is described as low key, popular with staff and clear about what he wants done.

Mr Fitzgerald and his 6,500 staff have set up groupings in various parts of the city, including Ballyfermot and Finglas, which ensures it has a visible presence on the ground.

Mr Declan Martin, economic director of Dublin Chamber of Commerce, says this has ensured that the Corporation is not just "an amorphous mass. It is now staying close to the customer".

However, Mr Martin says in the last 10 years, rates have increased by about 50 per cent and inflation by only around 20 per cent. "There is a concern that the cost [associated with running the Corporation] is ending up on business year after year," he says.

But he concedes "there is no doubt, that the Corporation is under-funded".