Dublin Forum - Directly Elected Mayors: Guaranteeing Better Urban Governance?
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Speakers: Tony Travers, Director of the Greater London Group, LSE and Andrew Montague, Lord Mayor of Dublin
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Date: Wednesday 14 December 2011 from 6.00 to 7.30pm
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Venue: Neill/Hoey Lecture Theatre, Long Room Hub, Trinity College Dublin
The second event in the Dublin Forum series was chaired by Prof James Wickham, Chair of the Policy Institute.
- Presentation
- Event Summary
- Speaker Biographies
- Contact Us
Presentation
Event Summary
The previous Programme for Government committed to the provision of a directly elected Mayor for Dublin by 2011; however this fell off the agenda. Paradoxically the current crisis makes it even more important that Dublin is better governed. Across the world it is increasingly common for successful cities to have a directly elected Lord Mayor. These are often political figures in their own right and make a major contribution to the success of their city. In London Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone are household names but the Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoëis, is equally a national figure. If Dublin is to remain the powerhouse for Ireland's for cultural and economic development a directly elected lord mayor is essential.
Speaker Biographies
Tony Travers
Tony Travers is Director of the Greater London Group at the London School of Economics. His key research interests include local and regional government and public service reform. He is currently an advisor to the House of Commons Education and Skills Select Committee and has recently advised the ODPM Select Committee. He is an Honorary Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy. He was a Senior Associate of the Kings Fund from 1999 to 2004, and also a member of the Arts Council's Touring Panel. From 1992 to 1997, he was a member of the Audit Commission. He was a member of the Urban Task Force Working Group on Finance.
He has published a number of books on cities and government, including Failure in British Government: The Politics of the Poll Tax (with David Butler and Andrew Adonis), Paying for Health, Education and Housing: How does the Centre Pull the Purse Strings (with Howard Glennerster and John Hills) and The Politics of London: Governing the Ungovernable City (published in spring 2004). He also broadcasts and writes for the national press.
Andrew Montague
Andrew Montague was elected Lord Mayor of Dublin at the Annual Meeting of Dublin City Council in June 2011. The Lord Mayor was elected to represent the Ballymun-Whitehall Ward in the 2004 Local Elections and was elected Deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin for the same year. He was re-elected to Dublin City Council in 2009 to the newly formed Artane-Whitehall Ward. The Lord Mayor holds a number of key positions as follows:
- Chairperson of the Transport and Traffic Strategic Policy Committee in 2009
- Founder and Chairperson of the City Council's Cycling Forum
- A member of the Board of Ballymun Regeneration and Chairperson of it's Social Regeneration Committee
- Chairperson of Ballymun's Local Drugs Task Force
- Secretary of the Ballymun Whitehall Partnership