Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming in today to engage with us on this matter. The committee's task is to come up with wording to put to the people. The representatives from the chambers all called out the need for stronger leadership, stronger championing and ownership of control for Dublin as a county, that is, the four Dublin local authority areas. I think I hear from all three of them as well that we need a directly elected mayor as soon as possible but not too fast. Is that really what they are saying? Are they saying they all see the potential and value in having somebody to own and champion Dublin, have executive control and revenue-raising powers, and have the ability to tackle key strategic or operational issues like housing, public transport or water? They also seem to be voicing very strong concerns about rushing towards a referendum or indeed even putting a referendum to the people of Dublin next June. I ask the witnesses from the chambers to confirm that.

I would really like to hear from the PPN. I appreciate that it did not get to submit a presentation but we have invited its representatives here to hear from them so I ask each of them to have a think about that. I would like to give the rest of my time to the witnesses. I ask the chambers to come in and then the PPN.