By any measure, Mr John Fitzgerald sounds like a force to be reckoned with. Head of an organisation employing 6,500 people and directly affecting the lives of half a million citizens, he occupies the most powerful local authority position in the State.

As Dublin City Manager, he is in charge of an area stretching from Rathfarnham on Dublin's south side to Ballymun on the city's northern outskirts. The largest employer in the city, the corporation's workforce easily matches the population of a small town.

Yet Mr Fitzgerald says that Dublin's local authority has to constantly look over its shoulder, seeking funding or permission before it can go ahead with any of the many proposals which land on his desk each day.

"Too many of our decisions have to go through the process of waiting for approval and finance from Government or the European Union," he says. "We always need to get somebody's else's permission or somebody else's money." And in recent years, as the streets of Dublin resounded to the tinkle of traders' tills, down at Wood Quay, the city's coffers haven't exactly been awash with cash. According to Mr Fitzgerald, the city has got nothing from the economic boom.

"Any city anywhere in the world, where the local economy is performing as well as it is here, would be able to do things it hasn't been able to do in years," he says.

Instead, the corporation has been running very fast to stand still. In the modern world, where Dublin has to compete with other European capitals for jobs, investment, visitors and conferences, that is effectively going backwards, Mr Fitzgerald says.

He believes that the corporation needs to operate with far more freedom than it has enjoyed in the past if it is to successfully shape the Dublin of the future - and freedom, among other things, means financial freedom.

Earlier this week, the corporation published its draft estimates for 1999, proposing day-to-day expenditure of £313 million next year. Of this, around a third will come from the Exchequer, a third will be met by the corporation itself from receipts such as rents while a third will come in the form of commercial rates levied on the city's businesses.

The corporation is proposing to increase rates by 3.35 per cent next year but even still, it will find it hard to balance income and expenditure. Although many Dublin traders have profited from the boom, the commercial valuation base, which underpins the corporation's rates revenues, is below its level seven years ago.

This is partly because of extensive downward revisions to rateable valuations in recent years, but also because much new development, particularly in the hotel sector, has taken place in designated areas that are rate-free.

Mr Fitzgerald believes valuations badly need to be reviewed. There has been no national review of the rating base this century, he says, and additional resources are needed to bring it up to date. "Ironing out the kinks in it would have considerable financial impact on the city," the City Manager says.

Meanwhile, Mr Fitzgerald believes it is important that the city has an independent, separate source of finance other than commercial rates. It is in this context that Dublin Corporation has proposed a hotel bedroom tax which is currently being considered by the Department of the Environment.

Although the tax has generated controversy, Mr Fitzgerald maintains a relatively small percentage room tax would provide a sizeable amount of income for the city and help maintain Dublin as an attractive tourist destination.

"Some people argue that this could kill the goose that lays the golden egg but I would say there are many things that need to be done and if they are not done the goose will die of lack of nourishment," he says.

Chief among the issues to be addressed, from the tourism point of view, is the litter problem which Mr Fitzgerald describes as a "running sore". In a bid to resolve this problem once and for all, the corporation has proposed a special ring-fenced 1 per cent levy on commercial rates next year to pay for litter initiatives in the city and its suburbs.

The programme, which will cost £960,000 in 1999, will involve a mix of enforcement, cleaning and education. Dublin currently has 12 mobile litter wardens, up from just two a year ago, and has seen the number of litter fines rise to 2,500 a year from 100 as a result. The corporation is serious about the task at hand - among those nabbed was one litter-bug caught throwing a cigarette butt from a car window.

"The city is the property of everybody and everybody has a right to a clean city," says Mr Fitzgerald.

The proposed new measures include the appointment of an additional six litter wardens while the corporation also plans to appoint an environment officer to visit schools and improve awareness generally.

Traffic management, an issue close to most Dubliners' hearts, is one of the more pressing and difficult issues facing the corporation. Mr Fitzgerald is in no doubt that if nothing is done, the city centre will choke to death.

While the capital is waiting for major infrastructural projects such as the Luas, the new motorway around the city and the Port Tunnel to come on stream early in the next century, the corporation is concentrating on providing quality bus corridors, cycle paths and improving traffic flow on the streets.

Meantime, it is busy trying to improve the quality of life for many of its citizens in other ways and currently has EU and Exchequer-funded capital projects worth £1 billion in hand. These include the Ballymun Regeneration project, which is costing an estimated £280 million, and the £200 million Dublin Bay Project which should improve the city's water quality so that the citizens of Dublin can once again go to Sandymount or Dollymount for a dip.

In a bid to meet the challenges facing the city as it heads into the next Millennium, the corporation is also undertaking a review of its own structures and procedures. It is currently in discussions with staff and unions about a reorganisation which would result in the city being divided into a number of administrative areas with services delivered on a geographic rather than functional basis.

Mr Fitzgerald also believes there should be a greater concentration on long-term policies as key decisions taken now will determine the shape of Dublin in the years ahead.

"We have to consider issues such as the footprint of the city - do we want the American model where the city stretches from here to Galway or the more concentrated European model?" he asks.

Above all, he believes the remit of local government, needs to be extended if Dublin is to compete with cities in Europe where anything that can be done locally - including services such as health care, education and policing - is handled by the local authority. "We are not delivering too much local government. We are delivering too little," he says.