Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I certainly hope we intend to respond to the report. I will familiarise myself with the points the Deputy made, which she has raised before but which have just come to my attention here. I will certainly familiarise myself with that. I would point to some steps we have taken. As the Deputy has acknowledged, the directly elected mayor Limerick is a not insignificant step, which the Deputy has welcomed. We did offer that to other parts of the country too. That is an important election and an important example of expanding the powers of directly elected people in local government. The property tax has given real revenue-raising powers in the real decisions to be made. Councillors have those decisions around property tax and its revenue every year - to go up, to go down or whatever else - in a way that we certainly did not when I was a member of Wicklow County Council.

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