Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)

I reiterate one point made by Deputy Stanley in regard to local government reform. It relates to the power of managers. We have seen this with Dublin City Council which has accumulated powers that were passed by the Oireachtas. It gave the council too much power while local councillors were relegated down the chain in terms of what they could and could not do. I would like to see those powers weaned away from managers and back to councillors who would have the ability to deal with them. I hope that is part of the Minister's agenda as he looks at reform of the local authorities. There are areas in which managers are making decisions and local councillors have no input or, if they do, the manager overrides them. This is a very important area that needs to be examined.

See this speech in context