Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Finally, the expertise is at a senior level in local authorities. The big decisions on cities, towns, villages and across Ireland generally are made at the executive level of local authorities but I think there is a dearth of transport planning expertise and knowledge, and there is a dearth of expertise in urban design. In Limerick, we have made some very good strides recently and brought in some very good people, which I think will change things but Limerick is probably the exception. Have we enough expertise at a senior level? It is important that we have such understanding at director level. Have we got that knowledge across all of society? It is not just in local authorities that that is important. We need that understanding across the Civil Service and across society in general. There probably is not enough time for the witnesses to answer my questions but I ask them to do their best and all of them can respond.