Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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There is a housing strategic policy committee in every local authority. Would it not dawn on anyone to consider this in respect of the approved housing bodies forum? Is the job of that particular committee just to rubber-stamp what is put in front of it? We teased this out last week with the Housing Agency and we are doing so again this morning. I am a former local government representative, as are many committee members. I am taken aback at the amount of serious decision-making that completely bypasses the elected members. I remind the witnesses that the legal council is the elected members. I do not want to personalise this but we have the Department and the county managers who are the chief executives. My last county council meeting was 12 years ago this week. Since that time there has been an amount of bypassing the legal council of the elected members, never mind what I saw during my terms on the council. Here is another example of it. The elected members are the decision-makers on the housing strategic policy committee of the council. Forum after forum is set up with no consideration given to the views of members. Members are not included. However the people who face the music and face the public, as the Deputies here know, are the politicians. It is nearly worse for councillors because they are local. They are the people who answer the questions.