Mr. John Sheahan:

On the 50% issue, we have no issue with it being inserted.

On section 183, one must accept there are exceptional circumstances in life whether they go for you or against. We are an island nation that knows that the "no, no, no" policy does not work. It has not recently worked in local authorities in Dublin where it was probably a catalyst for where we are today. As a very last ditch effort, we should have something in the legislation. If we do not set a budget at the local authority level tomorrow morning life will still go on and someone else will set it for us. We must have something there stating what will happen if people do not get their act together. I have no fear of that because pound for pound councillors up and down the country are the best people one will see to make local decisions, and I have total faith in our members to do that.