The Mayo Fine Gael TD, Mr Michael Ring, has renewed his threat to test the constitutionality in the courts of the Bill ending the dual mandate for members of the Oireachtas.
Mr Ring told the Dáil he had significant cross-party support for his stance. "I hope I will not have to take a case to the High Court, but I will do so if necessary and my legal team is in place. I will challenge this as a constitutional case.
"While I hope the President will refer it to the Supreme Court, if she does not, I will deal with it. As a democrat, I will obey whatever the Supreme Court decides." In a colourful and emotionally-charged speech, Mr Ring challenged the Government to reveal the detail of the legal advice given by the Attorney General on the issue.
"We should know if the Attorney General believes the Minister has the right to prevent somebody from standing for public office, which is what he is doing. Does the Minister think it appropriate to take senators away from their natural constituency?
"Is it right to tell senators they may not be members of local authorities when the members of these authorities elect them to the Seanad? That would be like telling the Minister (the Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen) that he must stay in Dublin and cannot canvass in Waterford at the next general election. There must be a constitutional case here. Local authority members vote for a senator, but the Minister will not allow a senator to be a member of a local authority. How can a senator communicate with his constituents?"
Mr Ring was speaking during the resumed debate on the Local Government Bill, which ends the dual mandate, whereby members of the Oireachtas can also be members of local authorities, from the local elections in the summer of next year.
Mr Cullen said the ending of the dual mandate was the view of the Fine Gael party and he asked if he should read out the relevant provision from the Fine Gael election manifesto.
Mr Ring told the Minister to sit down, adding: "The Minister can give us the view of Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats. I am giving my view, and I am never afraid to do so wherever I am."
Asked by Mr Cullen if he would resign from Fine Gael, Mr Ring replied: "I do not have to resign. The Minister should resign. I never jumped ship and I will not do so. The Rings have been in Fine Gael since 1921 and I will stay in Fine Gael. If Fine Gael does not want me, that is too bad."
The Fine Gael spokesman on the environment, Mr Bernard Allen, said the Government's assertion that the Bill was part of a major reform package for local government was simply not true. He accused the Government of doing a U-turn on its proposal to introduce a system of directly-elected mayors. "Mayors could have a role to play in fostering links with cities abroad. Take London for example, where the city mayor, though not always revered by his city residents or the media, is still an effective voice for the city and has introduced innovative ideas such as his initiative to improve public transport and lessen traffic jams."
The Labour spokesman on the environment, Mr Eamon Gilmore, said the only thing the Bill did was to row back on the one modest, although significant, change in local government legislation which the Minister's predecessor had put through the Houses of the Oireachtas before the last general election.
"It is taking out the right of the people to directly elect city and county mayors or cathaoirligh and doing so for one simple reason: it is now perceived by the Government to be in Fianna Fáil's electoral interest not to have direct elections for city and county mayors, whereas it was perceived by them that a system of electing such people in the climate of high opinion poll ratings, which they enjoyed at the time of the first Bill's passage through the House, would result in the election of a Fianna Fáil Gauleiter in every county being elected as the county mayor."
Mr Arthur Morgan (SF, Louth) welcomed the ending of the dual mandate and urged the Minister to reinstate the provision for the direct election of mayors and chairpersons of local authorities.
Mr Paul Gogarty (Green Party, Dublin Mid West) said the Government had talked about decentralisation, but all it did was to relocate centralised government Departments to favourite constituencies. The debate on the Bill was adjourned
