Mathews: Dear Bono, maybe you should run for mayor of Dublin?
Dear Bono,
Now that U2’s Vegas residency it’s over, why not get really creative — and return to Dublin to run for mayor?
I know — Dubliners don’t actually elect their mayors, so you can’t run. At least not yet. Which is precisely why they need you there.
You’re the best candidate to bring real local democracy to your nationalistic home island,. If you championed local democracy there, the world would take notice — and build the strong local governments that humanity needs to survive.
You know, from your globe-trotting to fight poverty and HIV/AIDS, that the world’s national governments are too busy with politics to protect us from our planetary problems — climate catastrophe, pandemic, war, poverty. Meanwhile, our international institutions remain too weak to accomplish much of anything.
That has dumped the world’s problems in the laps of local communities. But local governments lack the authority and resources to tackle big challenges.
Ireland, sadly, is a poster child for poor local government. On the Local Autonomy Index, Ireland ranks at the bottom of Europe, ahead of only authoritarian Hungary, Putin’s Russia, and Moldova. A Council of Europe report on Irish governance found that your national authorities determine all kinds of fundamentally local decisions — even locating bus stops.
Dublin, as a result, has perhaps the weakest government of the world’s great cities. Like other Irish municipalities, the city does elect councilors, but they can’t do much. The city can’t hire without the national government’s support (which is why Helsinki, a European capital of similar size, has 38,000 staffers compared to Dublin’s 6,000). Dublin also lacks the money and authority for road planning, flood defense, or even enforcing laws on illegal parking and “dog fouling.”
The good news is that cracks are opening in this wall of centralized power. During the pandemic, Dublin convened a citizens assembly — of representative group of Dubliners selected by lottery — that recommended structural changes to strengthen the city government. Their recommendations included establishing a full-time city council and a directly elected mayor.
Under the plan, Dublin’s government would gain control immediately over 15 policy areas — including housing, homelessness, transportation, environment, and emergency response. Crucially, the assembly proposed giving the mayor’s office the power to borrow and to levy local taxes.
Advocates say that such a mayor must have a strong personality to unify Dubliners, and a voice compelling enough that the national government would have to listen to demands for local autonomy.
You’ve got a pretty good voice, which makes you the right choice.
Unsurprisingly, the national government has blocked the citizens assembly’s proposals. But the fight is not over. It’s just moved to Limerick, population 102,000.
Limerick, via a local referendum, established a pilot program to elect its mayor directly. The election is June 7. This novel mayor’s race has been closely watched, with 13 candidates representing every color in the political spectrum, with candidates advocating for greater local control over housing and health care.
If you returned to Dublin, you could campaign to adopt the citizens assembly recommendations. For leverage, you could push a local referendum for a mayoral pilot like Limerick’s. If you won, it’d be hard to see how the national government could withstand your calls for more local authority.
Remember, if you succeed, you won’t just be mayor. You’ll get to build a new city government, drawing on ideas from around the globe, thus giving the world a model for 21st century local governance.
Yes, as mayor you couldn’t tour like you do now, but at 63, it’s time for a new chapter anyway.
And yes, you’ll face criticism. But as Joyce wrote in “Ulysses,” “A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.”
Come home. Run. You might finally find what you’re looking for.
Joe Mathews
Joe Mathews is California columnist and democracy editor for Zócalo Public Square. He is founder and columnist for Democracy Local, a planetary publication for everyday people governing themselves.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Mathews: Dear Bono, maybe you should run for mayor of Dublin?
