Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Tá brón orm as a bheith mall. Tá fáilte roimh na finnéithe. I was caught up in attending another meeting and while I hope that I will not cover anything that has been covered before, that would be a first for me.

I will follow on from where the Chair was going. I get the whole idea of democratic legitimacy. There is no one who can talk in here, who previously has been a councillor, who will not talk about the fact. I get it that the witnesses do not want to say it and that it is not for them to make a determination about how every regional authority works but I would like to hear a comparison. Councillors probably get even more work sometimes than we do and must deal with multiple issues. Again, even on a technicality, the council is responsible for a lot. People probably believe that a council is responsible for a lot more. I think there are better means by which we can deal with issues, say, that deal with estate management involving the guards and wider issues of complex cases that need the HSE and others. I do not think, as much as there are attempts to do that through community safety partnerships and whatever, I do not think we are in the place we need to be.

I ask for a comparison - because the witnesses have an opportunity to see it and have seen it - of this State versus the position throughout Europe. I would say our councillors have insufficient powers and the power lies completely with the Executive. That is also accepting that we also need councillors and others to see that there is a wider world. We must also make sure that we provide your outfit with all the resources that are required to be a framework that will work for all. The witnesses should be able to answer all of my queries in three minutes.