Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

-----reporting to the chair of the SPC. The corporate policy group would be, in effect, the Cabinet. That was my idea but it did not work out. It has not been driven. Part of it is due to resources because one cannot expect part-time people to be on top of a matter in the way that full-time administrators are. There is a job of work to be done and Deputy O'Dowd is correct in that regard.

My final point is in my full contribution but I did not mention it in my opening statement. There is an argument for participation in democracy at town council level. There are people who have been traditionally members of town councils who would never stand for election for even the county council. They are just part of their town and community. For the reason that Dr. Quinlivan suggested, there were far more women, ethnically different people and people with disabilities involved. It is very good to get those people involved. One of the reasons for that is that when I was a member of Wexford Borough Council, virtually all the meetings were in the evenings. People could do their job and attend the meetings. They were always at 7.30 p.m. People cannot hold down a full-time job and go to monthly or fortnightly meetings during the day.