Professor Deiric ? Broin:

The councils remain as key parts of the infrastructure and will have a chair. The report recommends that the directly elected mayor would assume a number of the roles of the existing chairs but that each local authority would still have a cathaoirleach, which is critical in maintaining their separate identity. I do not want to cut across Ms O'Connor but I believe the assembly clearly recognised that there are roles and functions that need to be addressed at a city and county-wide level. That is where the role of the directly elected mayor, alongside a directly elected assembly, is really important.