Mr. Aebhric McGibney:

There is maths or science behind this, it is just that we do not have it publicly. There were a lot of experts involved in the citizens' assembly and it is disappointing that we did not get some more clarity. For example, I am thinking about cancer treatment. If you want to be treated for cancer, you need a certain population to be treated to get a full-time consultant. I would rather travel further to see a person operating all day long. It is not beyond the means to assess those functions and look at it. Just because it has not been done or is not publicly available does not mean it should not be done. That is an important point. For us, we start with a co-ordinating role. That is what Limerick also talks about, because there are deficits in the co-ordination. Other things come with that power - you cannot borrow unless you have a revenue stream. Our worry is that the first thing a mayor might do would be a hotel bed tax or there are lots of ideas for new taxes. As I just pointed out in my opening remarks, Dublin accounts for half of all income tax and two thirds of all corporation tax. There is money out there, even a small sliver of that could account for some of the funding to get this co-ordinating role going.