Back in 1997, Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats backed a plan for elected mayors. The programme for government pledge was subsequently acted upon by the then environment minister, Noel Dempsey. Legislation was published, but before the mayoral idea was introduced it was killed off by opposition in the Fianna Fail parliamentary party.

Backbench TDs feared the arrival of powerful local personalities and the reality that low-profile politicians would never secure election to the mayoral positions. The PDs went along with the plan to jettison directly elected majors, although in 2006 they had a change of mind and re-introduced the idea as party policy. Gormley's policy paper will be ready early in 2008 with an election deadline of 2011. The timing could allow the main cities to have elections for new mayoral positions on the same day that the next presidential contest takes place in October 2011.