John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yes. That has not changed. I do not want to pre-empt any discussion that might take place at Government level. I indicated in my opening remarks that the report on leadership at local authority level is due to be discussed by the Cabinet within the month.

The devolution of powers is an old chestnut. It is not only devolution of powers but it is the balance that lies between the Executive and the council at local level. We are looking at establishing a new process or formula as to how we should consider functions that should be devolved to local government. In other words, if a service that is provided by a State agency or authority or a Department can be delivered as, or more, efficiently or cost effectively by the local authority, then that is the mechanism that would apply. A general standard would have to reached in order for a function to be devolved to local government. The functions local authorities have is one of the things that comes up for discussion around the time of local elections, in particular. However, I would point out that in some of the discussions with some of the representative groups of councillors, they were unable to provide me with any additional functions that local authority members should have.