Mr. David Branagan:

To add a comment around the perceived weakness in local government, we have been involved in conversations before in which it was said that in Fingal County Council there is a very strong balance towards the executive versus the councillors. It is also seen as a question of how to manage 40 councillors from a chief executive's perspective and trying to bring them all through with the work programme. Earlier this summer, we went with Fingal County Council to Seattle on a fact-finding mission and saw how it operates a different model from Ireland. It has a smaller group of local councillors but they are well supported. There is a team of seven with real power. The power is with them and the mayor. It may not be a directly elected mayor, as such, but the power is moved away from the executive to a smaller group.