Mr. John McCarthy:

I will say briefly in response that under the programme for Government there was a commitment given that a number of local government issues would be the subject of reports, initially, to Government, and then on to the Oireachtas. Two reports have been sent to Government in the last couple of weeks in relation to town local government and boundary issues between local authorities. They are being readied for publication and they will go on to the joint Oireachtas committee shortly for consideration.

There is a third report in relation to what we call "metropolitan governance" and we are working on that one. I suppose what I am saying is that issues in relation to that space will again by the subject of a report. It will go to Government, it will go to the Oireachtas for consideration and then it will come on to the policy decision process after that.