Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Okay, I am trying to. It was written by the authority that we were trying to regulate. It wrote its own legislation. The only Minister who ever liaised with me on legislation for local authority was Deputy Phelan and he was accommodating at the end of the day, albeit with both arms tied behind his back. I am not a party member but the witnesses are. They have been Ministers and are members of political parties. Elected members here frequently bring legislation forward that limits the influence their party members have at local level.

They strip them of their powers and, at the end of the day, my colleagues in the House are forced through the Whip system to row in behind a Minister who may not necessarily believe in the legislation he or she is bringing forward. Yesterday, a community policing motion was voted down and I know that my colleagues did not want to do that.