John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

I know the Deputy will not divide the House, but on a point of clarification, as I said in the Seanad, this is an enabling measure which says the authority could comprise as many as 20 members. That does not mean that it will. It would be remiss of us not to have that provision and have to come back with further legislation. However, it is not the intention that the authority will necessarily have 20 to begin with.

Just to clarify as regards local authority representatives, the legislation specifies clearly the type of experience the people on the new authority would need to have. I did not think it appropriate, however, and saw no specific reason simply being a member of a local authority would automatically exclude somebody, and as a consequence I removed that. The Deputy is right, however. It does not guarantee anybody a position.

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