Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will pick up on one or two things mentioned by Mr. McCarthy. I fully agree that councils are the eyes and ears of every community. What can be done is to shine a light on a dark place by upping one's game as to how one launches one's reports and how one engages with the media on those reports. Councillors and local authorities are particularly sensitive to criticism. That can be used in a positive way, or it can be a negative if one sees it as a negative. I see it as a positive. One has guidelines and national indicators and where people are not performing, they should be flushed out and exposed. I see that as a role for the commission. It is about imaginatively using one's role. One can push out the parameters of one's role but can also stay within the remit set down for the commission by the Minister and the Department.

In relation to Mr. McCarthy's comment on the audit committees, I believe that they are not working as well as he might think. Mr. McCarthy will learn this in time. It is sometimes the dynamic of a local authority that is evident. There are certain predictables on the audit committees. By their very nature they are a closed shop. That is not necessarily a good thing, which is another issue one might look at. When one has reports, good, bad or indifferent, the commission should use its office and resources. That is the challenge I am putting to the commission, to use its resources, its office and its staff to go to the public and inform them. The media will not be slow to pick up on this. That is perhaps the best lever to effect change. I wish Mr. McCarthy well.