Mr. Aebhric McGibney:

The Senator is right. Through commercial rates, businesses fund half of all local government in the four local authorities. It is a bit less in Dublin City Council because there are a lot of transfers in and out and other things. Business is a big funder of local government but, again, as Ms Burke said, it depends on the service that comes with it. If it involves layers of bureaucracy, that would certainly be a problem for us.

It is important that when we start talking about pinning this on somebody, we consider, as Ms Burke has said, the idea of a Minister who could do this. If in doubt, sometimes one ends up going to a Department, such as the Department of the Taoiseach. Should everything go up to that level in a Department? What if this issue is cross-departmental between the Departments of Transport; Enterprise, Trade and Employment; Environment, Climate and Communications; or Housing, Local Government and Heritage? Is it possible that somewhere else in the system, there is another chance to intervene?