The Labour group on Dublin City Council has threatened to take legal action against the Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, to prevent him from dissolving the council.
The councillors have until midnight tonight to pass the city's budget for the coming year. If they fail to do so in a meeting this evening, the council is threatened with abolition and the removal of the councillors by the Minister.
The leader of the group, Mr Tommy Broughan, said that they would consider legal action if Mr Cullen tried to remove the 52 councillors and appoint a commissioner in their place.
In a letter to the city manager, Mr John Fitzgerald, last week, Mr Cullen said that tonight's meeting was the "last chance" for the councillors. "No further extension of the budget period will be possible in this case," he warned.
However, Mr Broughan said yesterday that he had received legal advice that it would be "unconstitutional" for the Minister to dissolve the council. "Since 1999, local government has been enshrined in the Constitution," Mr Broughan said. "I feel that Section 28A says quite clearly that Dublin city, like any local area, is entitled to democratically-elected local government, and I don't think the Minister's action could be sustained."
Mr Broughan contends that while a commissioner could be appointed to strike a rate on the budget, he could not, constitutionally, replace the whole council. "To have the whole gamut of local government taken over by central government would be ludicrous."
A spokeswoman for the Department of the Environment said yesterday that the Minister would be within his rights to dissolve the council under the Local Government Act of 2001. A section of the Act states that the Minister may remove the members of a local authority if they fail to comply with their legal requirements, one of which is to pass the budget.
Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have said they that do not support Labour's stance. "The councillors are incorrect and are trying to camouflage their lack of responsibility," said Mr Ruairí McGinley, leader of the Fine Gael group.
