John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

The Minister for Transport, Deputy Dempsey, has a view on all these matters. He has been in this role in the past but I am telling the Deputy what the situation is. In other jurisdictions, particularly on the Continent and in the United States, there is representation at local level, in even the smallest towns. That system operates very effectively but in Germany and elsewhere there is very effective regional government. That is a tier of government that needs to be enhanced in this country to deliver consistency across all local authorities. The Deputy and I have discussed this issue and he knows my thinking on planning matters. He will be aware of issues around zonings and regional planning guidelines in Carlow in his constituency and that various local authorities have different approaches. We have to have consistency.

The Green Paper presents three options and notes that different solutions can apply in different areas. It envisages a metropolitan cross-boundary mayor with a strategic role in delivering with a city-region focus, joint leadership of local authorities through the joint election of a single mayor to chair and represent local authorities and the creation of unitary authorities. The Deputy will also be aware-----

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