Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

I am surprised at the Deputy. She wants to limit what the authority can do while I want to expand what it can do. I will not limit its functions. I have given it the widest possible responsibilities. We have enunciated them on Committee Stage, in the House and in the public domain. In the way it is written, the Bill allows the authority members to do everything they might want to do. It is not for me, if they are independent, to say they must do it my way. It is for them to decide, and I have given the body the widest possible remit for the members to sit down as a board, with the chief executive, and decide for themselves on the priorities.

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