The role of Mayor needs to be properly defined according to a Minister of State.
Waterford is one of the counties along with Cork, Limerick and Galway that are supposed to vote in May on whether they want to be able to directly elect their Mayor.
In Dublin, the idea has been referred to a citizens assembly.
Labour's Jan O'Sullivan has warned that there is a risk of celebrity-style mayors being elected, if the role is not clearly set out well in advance of going to the polls.
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Junior Minister Catherine Byrne says they need to know how a directly elected Mayor would function.
