Mr. John A. Moran:

I have to thank the Chairman for the call-out for Lean on Me. That is how Mr. Butler and I got to know each other. We were trying to produce a voucher scheme for people to spend money in their local shops, which went to Clare afterwards and up to Galway. We would love to go further so I thank the Chairman. The real point for me - I know Mr. Butler probably has some views on this - is that this is an opportunity to reapproach to the way the country works. We need to think about things in a holistic way. We need to think about the shopping demands, the online productivity, where decisions are made, the devolving of power to those in local government so they can actually do it. Even in the Lean on Me initiative we ran into many obstacles with county councils and others who wanted to support it, but schemes designed effectively in a single place in Dublin left them without the discretion to do that. If we are going to think seriously about balanced regional development, it will require devolving power, including devolved budgetary power, to the various regional assemblies or local authorities so they can move nimbly and act properly. That is where a lot of the opportunity exists but we must ensure that we do not make the problem worse by holding back on the responses needed today.

Frankly, having a new Government, the October statements in respect of the budget need to really pick up on that.