Mr. Stephen Browne:

We have always said it is not the office that we are concerned about, particularly, it has always been the powers and functions. If that means it is not a mayor and it is a Government Minister at Cabinet level, we would be quite happy with that as well. The democratic deficit was mentioned by the citizens' assembly, Deputy Duffy and other members of the committee earlier and that it puts another layer of bureaucracy above the people but surely a directly elected mayor is closer to the people than, for example, a chief executive or a director of housing or of planning. Those powers will have to be devolved if there is going to be devolution of powers to a real executive mayor from those executive offices, such as director of planning and of housing. The committee has a big body of work in the planning and development Bill that is coming before it for pre-legislative scrutiny soon enough. That will have a key role in how planning is done in the future. Whether that mayor will have a responsibility for planning in Dublin also needs to be looked at in the committee's deliberations on that legislation.