Councillor Peter McVitty:

On behalf of the Association of County and City Councils I thank the members for meeting us today. I wish to apologise on behalf of Ms Connie Hanniffy who was due to be here but could not attend. As the Chairman said, Michael O'Brien, the vice president, Pádraig McNally, Hilary Quinlan and Liam Kenny are in attendance as well as others from the association in the Gallery.

The association had to analyse closely the document of the Minister, Deputy Hogan, Putting People First. As an association we have to be prepared to accept change but we are concerned about some issues in the document. I am sure we are talking to the converted in that some of the members are former county councillors and they understand our concerns about some aspects of the document. However, we will make our presentation to the committee, outline our concerns and work as best we can to make sure it works properly and that everybody is satisfied with the outcome. The boundary changes in our very large areas is a major change but we must accept change. I will hand over to Michael O'Brien, a member of the team in our association that examined the Bill closely, who will take us through our submission.