Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I want to ask a question on that very point. I appreciate what the witnesses said that they will work with what they are given but we very much want their views on what would be the best framework to be given. Looking at the report, the key part of the recommendations is the devolved powers. That is the really important part. There is a lack of detail in that even for the Electoral Commission to be able to explain in a plebiscite in an outline what the role of the major would be about. It would need to have some information about those devolved powers and how they might be implemented. I do not think anyone would realistically think that in five years, all of these powers, in any shape or form, would be devolved. Some people may feel that in the long term it would be nice to have all of these devolved. There may not be agreement on that either and some people may feel some of the powers should never be devolved or whatever. That is the question I want to get at.

Out of these, which ones does Mr. Ward think jump out as the most important ones to be devolved first or quickest, if one is looking at this as a potentially strategic - and that word has been used - layer of influence for Dublin as a region? What are the areas that will be most important in that?

For this to proceed, there will have to be some sort of division of these, at least into short term and long term, or short, medium and long term, to make it manageable, or some sort of mapping out around that. Related to that is the question of devolving these. We will use the transport example. The National Transport Authority could end up having the equivalent of the Dublin Transportation Office in a Dublin mayor's office. It would have budget and oversight, and the implementation would then still be with the local authorities or the transport providers. Are there any areas here that jump out? For a Dublin mayor's office, and for the Dublin region, should it not be budget and implementation rather than just budget and oversight or does Mr. Ward feel that all of these should just be budget and oversight, and then implementation be left to the four existing local authorities or other bodies?