A Celtic rocker who's known for his crackdown on drugs and crime, Baltimore mayor Martin O'Malley, talks to Joan Scales

Martin O'Malley could have slept only three hours a night for the past five years when you consider his achievements. As second-term mayor of Baltimore, Maryland, he is credited with turning around a city that had one of the highest levels of violence and drug addiction in the US. But this month he is taking time out to tour Ireland with his rock band.

A former assistant state's attorney and council man for the city of Baltimore, he is also a songwriter, singer and musician. His band, O'Malley's March, has performed in the mid-Atlantic cities since 1988, playing a mixture of traditional Irish music and Celtic rock with a bit of jazz thrown in.

In 1999, when O'Malley entered the election race for mayor of Baltimore as the 17th declared candidate, not many people thought he would take the city, which has a two-thirds black majority. However, after a campaign promising to get tough on crime and drugs, he topped the poll, prompting the Washington Post headline "White Man Gets Mayoral Nomination in Baltimore". In the 2003 mayoral elections he was returned to office.

When O'Malley took over, the crime crisis in the city appeared irretrievable. He was an admirer of the zero-tolerance programme in New York and introduced a similar, though not as stringent, programme for Baltimore.

There was also increased funding for drug programmes, with five new centres for drug treatment and rehabilitation being opened. Baltimore now leads the US in its reduction of admissions to accident-and-emergency units for drug-related illnesses. The city has also targeted the drugs gangs.

O'Malley recognised the need to move from patronage politics to performance politics, which is where his acclaimed CitiStat programme came in. Dedicated to open government and a belief that what gets watched gets done, the mayor is tracking local government performance in an unprecedented way. He is trying to replace a culture of delay and avoidance with a culture of accountability and results, monitored by technology.

Running alongside CitiStat is CitiTrack, a one-stop call centre and Internet site for Baltimore's citizens, where they can lodge queries and complaints relating to local government. Every call is logged and the caller given a tracking number and an indication of when the query will be dealt with. It could be that bins were not collected, or a tree has fallen down, or a water mains is broken, or an abandoned building is rat-infested. The tracking method means that records can be kept of reports received and action taken.

It is estimated that since its introduction in 2001, CitiStat has saved Baltimore more than $100 million by reducing overtime payments and by better management of resources. The scheme is being studied by local and city councils throughout the US and Europe.

Another of O'Malley's innovations is the Blight Elimination Initiative, which involves the demolition of thousands of abandoned buildings, both private and public. This is leading to reduced insurance for home-owners and a reduction in the incidence of fire, crime and drug offences.

Indicators of the city's revival are the rise in average house prices from $65,000 to $125,000 and reports that, for the first time in a generation, the schools in Baltimore are showing significant signs of improvement.

O'Malley is strongly tipped for the governorship of Maryland in the 2006 gubernatorial race, which could turn out to be a head-to-head with Robert L. Ehrlich, the state's current governor.

O'Malley, a Democrat, worked for Senator Gary Hart's presidential campaign in 1984 and, despite Hart's abrupt departure from the race after the Donna Rice controversy, he still has the highest regard for Hart. He was also a supporter of Bill Clinton.

When Clinton visited Baltimore during O'Malley's first term of office, the mayor asked him for two things: more federal funding for Baltimore, and to accompany Clinton on his trip to Ireland in 2000. His second wish was granted and he brought his guitar to Ireland with him, playing at informal gatherings.

A third-generation Irishman whose family came from Co Galway, O'Malley was educated by the Jesuits, then graduated from the Catholic University of America and the University of Maryland School of Law. He is married to Katie Curran O'Malley, a district court judge, with whom he has four children.

When he's not working, O'Malley likes nothing better than to get out his guitar and play some of his own songs and those of his favourite artist, Shane MacGowan. O'Malley's March has opened for Shane MacGowan and the Popes and also for The Saw Doctors.