Ms Kate Feeney:

The Senator asked about power devolution and which powers might be easiest to devolve. I keep coming back to the point that it all depends on how we are fitting the office into the overall structure. In respect of the powers we have at the moment, there is a national plan, a regional plan and a local plan. By the time the local plan gets to executive level, there is very little tinkering around the edges. By the time it gets to elected member level, someone might be able to add a comma. It is about where the office will fit into the structure.

I will take the example of transport that the Senator mentioned. If we are looking at the staggering of the devolution of powers, we should in the early days transfer one responsibility that is visible and will allow the directly elected mayor to have a quick and visible win. I sat at a meeting not long ago for the Covenant of Mayors, which is a climate action covenant of mayors from across Europe. I was sitting with colleagues who were talking about how they had recently made the decision to electrify their full public transport fleet. I was sitting there and thinking about what I could learn and bring back to the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly, EMRA, and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. Things such as that are far beyond our remit. It is about giving the directly elected mayor something visible. The key is devolving hard power. That is the key.