Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)

It is set out in planning legislation and it has not worked. The Minister of State draws on his experience and I draw on mine. There is a greater flair for efficient, fast consultation with those who are making a proposal than for wanting to embrace the views of the public in a wide way. I am committed as a person elected to an assembly. For a long time I was a member of two local authorities. I accept that in the long history of local authorities there have been people who behaved in different ways, but the local authority members are still the elected people in whom trust has been placed.

Frankly, I sometimes worry about the bureaucratic way. The most well-meaning suggestions are buried in the new system which has grown up around county and city managers. It would have been an interesting development if the McCarthy report had examined the question of the administration of the State and looked at all the managers. Maybe that is a way to save money. If the Government wants to do something very radical, we will do that on another day.

One of the principles to which I am absolutely committed is that if one holds elections and elects councillors and if one is not satisfied with them, there is another election coming. However, the same is not necessarily true of managers, assistant managers, directors of services and others. Therefore, I am pressing this amendment and will be calling for a vote on it.

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