Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

As a committee, we are tasked with considering the recommendations, which we have tried to do by engaging with various stakeholders, and with assessing if a plebiscite is required. I want to put a question to Ms O'Connor as a member of the assembly. What if we were to come back and say we support local democracy, empowering the mayor and giving people the option to vote for a directly elected mayor but we feel we could legislate for it, rather than organising a plebiscite? Going to a plebiscite would be a great opportunity to have a real information session for the public, along the lines of what the members of the assembly were able to avail of. The average general member of the public would not have time to do this. I can see pros and cons of both but what would the response of members of the assembly be? Would they feel that they had not been listened to or would they just accept it?