Mr. Des Dowling:

I refer to two issues, including one raised by the Chairman regarding economic matters. I reinforce what Mr. Conlan said about the parameters the boundary committee might review. It is settled policy as set down within the report and decided by the Government.

On the economic side, the Chairman might be aware that a sectoral policy for local government was recently published. Among other things, it catalogued 2,000 separate initiatives that local authorities have undertaken in conjunction with local partners of various kinds, be they business, community or other interests. These are things the local authority might not necessarily fund directly but which would not have happened without some local authority involvement. This is very much the approach we want to build so that local authorities are involved in individual initiatives but they are also involved in a much more strategic way. We want to develop the experience we are building up in respect of Limerick and the experiences of the very best local authorities where councils and managers are reactive in this area. It is not that these things are not being done but they may be done on an uneven basis across the system.