The Government is to press ahead with plans for a directly elected mayor with executive powers for Dublin by 2011 and will publish its detailed proposals in a Green Paper on local government reform early in the new year.
Minister for the Environment John Gormley said yesterday he would also like all county council chairmen to be directly elected, but that the "detail has to be worked out".
He said the Government was "using the UK as a model" in a reference to London's directly elected mayor.
He acknowledged, however, that the direct election of mayors "has not happened to the same extent in other parts of the UK".
Asked about the cost implications, the Minister said it would be necessary to give local authorities "revenue-raising powers".
Mr Gormley was speaking in Carlow at the annual conference of the Local Authority Members' Association, which represents councillors from city, town and county councils.
The Minister told the conference that many councillors felt that they had no power and there was "a public perception that we don't have local government in this country, we have local administration, and we need to change that.
"We need to reinvigorate and reform local government," he added, claiming "the people of Ireland will be better off if we have enhanced and empowered local government".
Mr Gormley told delegates that "local authorities had received record funding from the exchequer in recent years, reflecting their key role in meeting the challenges of Ireland's rapid economic and population growth", but that they must "focus on greater value for money and improved efficiencies".
The conference continues at the Dolmen Hotel in Carlow today.