Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is an interesting one because many local authorities have availed of that and have applied reductions year on year. It led to the unusual scenario of many county managers making public appeals over local airwaves not to do so, given the impact on services. That is quite unusual because as Mr. McCarthy knows county managers are quite reticent to make any public announcement, good, bad or indifferent. I have heard on my local radio station a county manager from a neighbouring county appealing on public airwaves for councillors not to do it because it would reduce the authority's income. Is the Department considering removing that power from councillors and providing a paper? Obviously, that is down to the Minister. I do not want to get into this because I will never get a straight answer. Is Mr. McCarthy suggesting to the Minister that that power should be removed from councillors because it is leaving local authorities bereft of money given that county managers, who form a very powerful lobby group, are saying that power should not be with councillors?