Mayoral vote plan blasted as scandalous treatment of the public

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has suggested the May vote should be delayed because of the absence of information on the powers of the directly elected mayor.
The Cork public will be asked to vote on whether it wants to establish the position of a €130,000-a-year directly elected mayor for the city, but there has been little information from Government on the precise nature of the role.
“I think this is a scandalous and shabby way to treat people; to expect them to vote on a plebiscite on which there has been very little debate and very little presentation from both sides,” said Mr Martin.
“I don’t think there’s been one explanatory leaflet issued by the Government explaining what the proposals are. If you were to ask people about it on Patrick St in the morning, I’d be interested to see the responses you’d get.”