Ms Anne Colgan:

In thanking Senators for their responses, I will make the point that what we are talking about today is, in many ways, power and influence and where they rest. It might be interesting to look at the resources and budget available to the Local Government Management Agency, LGMA, and to contrast them with the resources and budget available to the Association of Irish Local Government, AILG. That would be an interesting exercise.

One question that did not come up during the meeting but which has been in the ether is that of culture. What is the culture of local government and, in particular, what is the culture of the Department? Because councillors never engage with civil servants, they are invisible people who see each other in particular ways. That is a question of culture.

I will make one further point that may not occur to people when considering the impact of the loss of reserve functions. It relates to the higher education Bill. Why would we worry about councillors being taken from the boards of third level colleges? If we look at the advertisements to replace councillors on those boards, the requirements are completely technocratic and relate to finances. Colleges are meant to be in, and reaching out to, communities. Where now is the voice of the community and the educational needs of local communities? That is something we have lost even if we did not give it a lot of thought. The whole notion of power and influence needs to change.