Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

When a local authority meets, it meets as a corporate body and each member is present as a corporate member. Subsequent to a meeting, there may be tasks that the chairman may be delegated to carry out on behalf of the statutory body. I am talking about a local authority, not about the body in question. There could be a role that a chairperson would have to carry out after the meeting that would be onerous. Even a non-executive chairman would be acting in the interests of the members. Depending on the complexity of the issue involved, it could take up a lot of his or her time and involve additional and other expenses. Personally, I would not have a problem with this. Clearly, it is a matter to be decided by the Minister who I presume would have to take account of other State bodies of comparable size and what happened in them.