Mr. Michael McCarthy:

The short answer is that I do not know but I suspect that the County and City Management Association, CCMA, would have very strong views on that. When the town councils were abolished there was a migration towards the municipal districts which became larger and had more members on them. There was an attempt to stymie that before it happened. It is like comparing apples and oranges to compare one local authority with another but I think there might be significant issues with staff retention or filling positions that become vacant. The CCMA would have more insight on that than the National Oversight and Audit Committee, NOAC, would.