Ms Mary Rose Burke:

I will not repeat a lot of what the Senator said. He articulated many of the concerns. In the event that the proposal for a directly elected mayor is not proceeded with in the short term, we still see that there is a need for political focus on and advocacy for Dublin and other cities in the national development plan. We would propose consideration of a Minister for urban affairs to align with the NDP. For instance, the population targets laid out in the plan are already pretty much reached so there is no strong single voice for Dublin, Limerick, Cork, Galway, Wexford and Waterford within the NDP. It is not about the absolute cost. Businesses are concerned about the balance of cost and the delivery of service. It is not an absolute about the number. It is about value for money and what services are delivered for that.