Mr. Michael McCarthy:

I will take up the point about councillors and the conduit that they are. I have mentioned a number of stakeholders, including the joint committee, the Department, the LGMA and the County and City Management Association, CCMA.

The Senator is correct that in a few weeks we will have over 900 new members across the 31 local authorities. That is an avenue I will follow up on in terms of using that skillset. From our point of view, we can do what we can, but there is much credence and merit in the Senator's proposal regarding a local knowledge. I agree that the elected members of the local authority are best placed to interrogate what the issue might be and to have a particular insight into that, which we will never pick up by meeting the executive team. That is something I will take up.

There are no sanctions and penalties. Our role is specified in the Act. It is an oversight role, by and large, without the carrot and stick. There is a little carrot, and the Senator will have heard the point Martina Maloney mentioned regarding the number of voids. That used to drive me bananas as a public representative in a previous life. I could not understand why the voids were allowed to deteriorate to the level they had reached at that point in time. There has been a reduction in the overall figure from 3.8% to 2.8%. We believe that is a direct response to our site visits and reports. It places a pressure. I will take up the Senator's issue with regard to the councillors, the network and the association behind that because there is a particular skillset within that sector which I believe will be of great benefit to NOAC in how it discharges its functions.