Mr. Eamonn O'Sullivan:

Any request the CCMA gets from the committee will certainly be responded to positively. On whatever subject matter, and obviously especially on housing, if the association can provide any assistance or information, we will be forthcoming with same at the Chairman's request and at her convenience. We have had a long conversation about the challenges, and perhaps the simplest way I can summarise it is that a modern, 21st century system of local government requires an effective and efficient system of financing. We have spoken at length about the vagaries of this in its current guise. I ask all Oireachtas Members to do everything they possibly can to put the funding of local government finance on a firm footing, not an annual hand-to-mouth existence, which has possibly been the model until now.