Four Independent TDs have turned down Government offers to compromise on legislation designed to ban Oireachtas members from holding local authority seats.
The Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, may be forced to abandon the plan to abolish the dual mandate, despite a compromise offer to the Independent TDs who support the Government to postpone the move until 2009.
Ms Mildred Fox (Wicklow) said yesterday she was totally opposed to its abolition. She said that being able to hold a seat on a county council was extremely important for an Independent deputy, and lots of votes depended on it.
"Ministers and junior ministers can swan around the place and have lots of photo opportunities, but it is different for an Independent TD without a party behind them," Ms Fox said. Any proposal to postpone the move would simply be "feathering their own nest", she said, and would work against Independent deputies elected in the future.
Ms Fox and the other three Independent TDs, Mr Harry Blaney, Mr Thomas Gildea and Mr Jackie Healy-Rae, wrote to Mr Dempsey before Christmas about their unanimous opposition. They have since met him and told him they would vote against the Local Government Reform Bill if he went ahead.
However, it is believed Mr Dempsey is equally determined to implement the change, seeing it as an essential move if national politics is to be separated from local politics.
The Government chief whip, Mr Seamus Brennan, has been negotiating with the TDs and is believed to be exploring other compromise proposals, but there is no great optimism in Government circles that the matter can be resolved.
Mr Healy-Rae has likened supporting the plan to "cutting a rod to beat myself". Mr Blaney said it was "very obvious" why Independent deputies were against the abolition of the dual mandate.
He had rejected the compromise of not introducing it until 2009. "Maybe I'm wrong to think it will do away with Independents. That's what it is designed to do, and I'm certain that's what it's going to do," he said. It was up to the electorate to see if they wanted to elect a person to a local authority and as an Oireachtas member.
The Dail debate on the Bill has already been postponed to give time for talks on the issue. The Bill is now scheduled to begin its second stage Dail debate on March 6th or 7th, with a vote on it likely a fortnight later. However, Government sources have not ruled out a further postponement to allow for more negotiations.