Mr. John A. Moran:

Yes. The mayor and the council agreeing the budget every year would be an incredibly strong democratic system that, in effect, replaces the Oireachtas in making decisions for Limerick. However, this has to be within an envelope. The Chairman will be familiar with my previous role, whereby every year the Department of Finance gave an envelope of spending to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, which allocated that, based on national priorities, among different Departments. What happens at present is that the Departments, almost in silos, then decide how to spread the largesse across the country.

What I was very excited about in 2019, as I thought the proposal was and as reflected very strongly in Mr. Tim O'Connor's report, was that finally one could do a holistic management of the needs of Limerick, decide the priorities with local elected officials and drive local administration to deliver not just on roads and water pipes, but also on housing, schooling, policing and everything one would see in the successful cities across the world that have gone through the type of transformation that Limerick has to go through in the next couple of years. Let us bear in mind that Limerick will go through a population growth of approximately 50,000 in the next decade or so. That involves a massive infrastructure demand. Right now, officials in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform should be totting up what should be spent on that over the next five to ten years. I would like the mayor to have the ability to prioritise roads, cycling infrastructure, schooling or the public realm and decide that locally, but not exceed the envelope of what was going to be spent in Limerick in the first place. It is to make those decisions locally to suit the people who know best.