Mr. Tom Moylan:

Yes; I brought the contents of the letter before our executive committee in June 2017. On 12 June 2017 I replied to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, who sent the original letter. In my letter I outlined in general terms our concerns about the Bill and indicated that the Association of Irish Local Government would be available for a meeting, if the Department wished. The general points I made in our reply are the same as those set out in our submission.

It was also highlighted at meetings of the executive committee in May and June that the Bill had reached Committee Stage and that 89 amendments had been tabled. We decided to contact the joint committee later in the autumn to seek to make representations on the fact that the Bill had progressed to such a late stage. This decision to make contact was taken at our executive meeting in early September and I subsequently wrote to the Chairman on the matter.