The Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party has accepted the ending of the right of TDs and senators to sit on local authorities, despite years of opposition to the move.
Under the measure, TDs and senators will not be allowed to run in the 2004 local elections and will be encouraged to resign their local authority seats in the New Year to give replacements time to get established.
"It was wonderfully well handled. You have to hand it to Cullen. The work had been done before they went in. He had taken the time to talk this out with people," said a Fianna Fáil TD of the Minister for the Environment and Local Government.
A few TDs, including Carlow/Kilkenny's Mr John McGuinness and Cork South Central's Mr John Dennehy, expressed doubts about the wisdom of the move, but did not oppose it.
In all, 102 TDs will step down, along with 26 senators. The move will mean that they will also lose valuable places on health boards, vocational education committees, and other bodies.
The legislation will not be finalised until the New Year to allow the concerns of TDs and senators to be dealt with, particularly regarding their future rights to get information from local authorities. "The relationship that many TDs have with local officials is not good. Some local officials act as if they are governors. So that will have to be looked at," a Fianna Fáil TD complained.
Under the Local Government Act, 2001, councillors are entitled to a gratuity of €1,800 for each year of service dating back to May 2000, along with a €12,100 salary from January 1st this year.
Denying that retiring Oireachtas members will get a golden handshake, the Minister said they would get their due entitlements. "Compensation was not at the forefront of people's minds," he said.
However, it is likely that those who quit next year will be able to claim the €1,800 gratuity up to May 2004.
Acknowledging that the abolition would make the 2004 elections "more competitive", the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, said: "But Fianna Fáil is the largest party. We have a large reservoir of talent."
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, had strongly favoured the dual mandate ban. "He wants to see more people coming through. He is a man whose political antennae are always very sharp," said Mr Martin.
Mayo Fine Gael TD Mr Michael Ring has said he is prepared to walk away from national politics if he is forced, by law, to quit his seat on Mayo County Council.
He said he was mounting a legal challenge to the proposal to take away the right from Oireachtas members to sit on local authorities, and that he believed he had a constitutional right to represent his electoral area on the council.
