Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will put it this way. I could see Deputy McNamara's abiding interest in the matter so I felt it was only appropriate that I give it the importance it deserved. I went back and read the IAG report. The IAG recommendation was - I am paraphrasing here - that, having considered the matter in depth, it believed there was a need for a separation of the roles at the plenary session of the meeting between the príomh chomhairleoir and the mayor for a number of reasons. One was that the mayor is answerable at an executive level to the chamber and that the mayor would report to the chamber like the CEO does at the moment. The IAG felt that it was better to separate those roles during the plenary sessions of the council meetings.