Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)

All parties, whether of the right, left or centre, have a great interest in local government. With regard to the powers, I ask the Minister to shift the balance back in favour of the elected members. I listened carefully to what he said about the elected members being the board of directors. That is the way it should be but it is not the way it is, and I ask him to change it.

The Minister should take a serious look at the functions. Many issues could be dealt with at local level and should not be dealt with at national level, and many powers should also be shifted back to local level.

What is the Minister's position in regard to the dual mandate? Before I entered the Oireachtas I was both a town councillor and a county councillor. Is it the Minister's intention to retain the town council structures by way of a dual mandate system or will they be subsumed into the country structure? That is a very direct question.

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