Maria Bailey (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On foot of what Deputy Casey said about making responsible decisions, Mr. Owen Keegan who is now chief executive of Dublin City Council is our former manager, as Senator Boyhan will be aware.

This country has experienced a difficult time. Councillor McGinley has mentioned economic buoyancy and I agree with him that buoyancy has returned to the market. We must, as local authorities, harness that opportunity and develop our counties. The Lexicon Library was built in Dún Laoghaire as a result of hard decisions. It is a community facility for all which - Senator Boyhan can correct me if I am wrong - has between 10,000 and 12,000 visitors per week. Many people lost their seats due to the matter but it was right to build a public amenity and not just for the residents of Dún Laoghaire but for anybody who wants to avail of it. Sometimes the hard decisions are the right ones and sometimes elections occur in between but we, as politicians, must still make the right decisions. I welcome the fact that Mr. McGinley has said that buoyancy is returning to local authority and national budgets. However, there is a huge piece of work for us all to do on this matter. I am sure committee members would love to have the witnesses return on another occasion to discuss this topic further. We will collate the views that have been aired today and relay them back.

The witnesses called for local authorities to be given more powers and that is something members say constantly, particularly as none of us has forgotten from where we come. I thank them for coming before the committee this morning and I look forward to ongoing engagement with them.

The next meeting of the joint committee will take place at 2 p.m. on Thursday, 17 May 2018, and its subject matter will be the quarterly update from the Minister in respect of Rebuilding Ireland. There may be a meeting prior to that, in which case we will contact members in advance.