John Kelly (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I refer to how the county enterprise board structure operated in the past. I was a member for seven years in County Roscommon. Local knowledge is crucial. For example, on one occasion the valuation committee recommended support for a project in my area and refusal for another project. I argued that the project they recommended would fail and I was proven right and that the one for which it refused funding would be a success. That year it won the enterprise of the year in the county. Unless elected members with local knowledge are on the boards, they cannot work. If any of us ring a civil servant about an issue, he will tell us how something cannot be done and that is the road we are choosing to go if the local input of country councillors is not maintained.