Mr. Michael McCarthy:

I will address the last point first. As members are aware, Ms Maloney is chair of our performance indicator subgroup. She will explain the terms of the indicator and the remit we have around that indicator, for example, in the areas in which we are constrained. Regarding compliance with the drinking water directive, there is merit in much of what the Vice Chairman said but our role is, again, an oversight one. While we have a role in terms of the implementation of national policy, that is really an issue for the Minister or Government of the day. I can see the merit in that.

Before I call on Ms Maloney, who will talk about rates, we did go to one particular local authority, which recorded an improvement in its collection of commercial rates. It was just after the economic crash. It was a county that had not done as well during the boom as other counties on the eastern seaboard and down in the south west. Therefore, when the recession came, it has hit particularly badly. Many businesses struggled - if they were lucky enough to stay open - while the vast majority of them closed. The local authority's finance unit met those who were still in business. Its modus operandiwas to keep the doors of the remaining businesses open on the basis that if they closed, there would be a loss to the local area, an economic loss and the outstanding commercial rates would never be collected. There was a discussion with the finance department, which entered into arrangements with businesses whose accounts had fallen into arrears and which were just about keeping their doors open. That was at least in part responsible for some of the upturn in the collection of commercial rates in that local authority area. The point is important. Across the 31 local authorities, we will see some local authorities doing business very differently from their neighbouring local authority. The Vice Chairman's experience in Kildare or someone else's experience in Kerry or Galway would vary greatly. This is why, in collecting the data, we try to understand how they arrive at that. We present the data in a way that is easily discernible. We can use those data to improve service provision in other areas. Again, the role is prescribed in the Act, which prevents us from having certain functions around that other than expressing a point of view. It is venturing out of our zone.