Mr. Pat Daly:

Senator Murnane O'Connor asked about town councils. In Clare, we had 68 councillors up to the Local Government Reform Act and now we have 28. In a former life I worked for former Deputy Tony Killeen and Ennis had huge budgets that seem to have disappeared. They have been a major loss. Ennis is a town of 30,000 and there are many such towns in Ireland which should have been left with a town council. It was a big decision and I think it was the wrong one. The workload for councillors has gone up, there are fewer of them and they have a greater workload.

Senators Boyhan and Coffey asked about county managers and CEOs having little clubs in the custom houses. I have to be very careful as my CEO is in front of me. It is recognised throughout the country that councillors are not being told the whole story. Deputy Cowen mentioned planning in Clare. We had workshops under the county development plan but whatever plans were made were changed very quickly after those workshops, in areas such as the rezoning of land. I do not mean anything personal about Mr. Dowling when I say that.