John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yes.

Given the keen interest in the local government audit, as expressed by Deputy O'Donnell - I, too, have a keen interest in this issue - we will come back to the issue again in the new year. I propose to leave chapters 6 and 16 open and to deal further with them and the EPA early next year. We will come back to these issues again in terms of local government audit, in particular the review of the local government audit service and Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, the report on which, it appears to me, had not been finalised when the announcement about the new audit service was made. There are issues in this regard which require further address, including the indebtedness of local authorities generally.

Perhaps Ms Tallon would forward a note to the committee on the debt levels in each local authority area. We have already received a note in respect of commercial rates and water. Perhaps Ms Tallon would indicate in that note the percentage collected each year in respect of local authority rent and whether the amount is decreasing owing to arrears and so on.

I sympathise with Deputy Deasy in regard to the city status issue. I wish him luck in that regard. I hope Waterford is not as short changed as was Kilkenny when its city status was being debated. Kilkenny believed itself to be a city and wanted this acknowledged in legislation. However, despite that we believed we had won that debate we discovered in the small print that it would have that status for ceremonial purposes only. The devil is in the detail of the legislation, as well as everything else.

I would also welcome comment from Ms Tallon, although not today, on the McLoughlin and McCarthy reports. I am putting them on the record today so that we can revisit them again. They are of concern to me.

As I stated, chapters 6 and 16 will remain open. I thank the witnesses for attending today's meeting.