John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It was always so. We always had situations where people who lived on the edge of towns were not included. Sometimes town boundaries were extended to include people, in rural areas in some cases, into town council voting in the last number of town councils that would have been elected. That was not always the case either and it certainly was not uniform.

As to regional assemblies, I was the only one who never mentioned them because there is no affinity from the population whatsoever to them. We did not align them with the European electoral boundaries. Thank God we did not do this because the European election boundaries are ridiculous. There is an area from Wicklow to Kerry. We should go back to something approaching Leinster-Munster and Connacht-Ulster to have some sort of ownership of those. The old regional boundaries meant something to people. The south east was a recognisable region, to use my own example. The mid-west is still a recognisable region. It may be at that level that the regional structure might be more beneficial.

Senator Black spoke about returning town councils. I say "No". Keep them out.

Local authorities should definitely play a greater role in public service provision. I would like to know what the councillors themselves think that should be. They are not quick at coming forward about what services they think they should provide. The Senator mentioned a very serious issue regarding keeping councillors safe. What I have noticed in my 25 years, and it is probably the same here too, concerns the camaraderie between councillors, even if you diametrically disagree with somebody.

There is much more willingness now, nationally and locally, to hang someone out to dry and turn the guns on a colleague-----