Andy Burnham became British prime minister last month, having served almost a decade as the directly elected mayor of Greater Manchester.

The Labour politician’s high-profile stints as mayor – overhauling Manchester’s transport system and seeking to end rough sleeping – helped him garner support to topple his predecessor as prime minister, Keir Starmer. He is not the only British leader to cut their teeth in executive office as a directly elected mayor. Boris Johnson was mayor of London during the 2012 Olympics (who could forget him dangling from a zip wire as he celebrated Team GB’s first gold?) though his support for Brexit was a more significant factor. But his time as mayor of London did help to build his public persona, arguably paving the way to his Conservative party’s landslide general election victory in 2019.

Britain has had directly elected mayors – starting in London – for just over quarter of a century. In the same time period attempts to bring in similar roles in Ireland have been hit and miss – with many more misses.

Former lord mayors of Irish cities have gone on to become taoisigh – Bertie Ahern and Micheál Martin being the most prominent. But it was their national work as TDs and in ministerial roles that saw them develop the profile needed to lead their party and the country, rather than the largely ceremonial mayoral roles that have been traditionally rotated annually among councillors here.

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