Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

With the greatest of respect to the Minister of State, his response does not make sense because under the provisions of the legislation before Members, the county manager could nominate any number of members of his or her staff to have access to this information.

I am sure the Minister of State means no offence to local authority members but implicit in his response is the view that the mayor or cathaoirleach of a county or city council cannot be trusted. That is basically what is being said. It seems to be fine for any number of directors of service to have access to the information but it is not fine for an elected member who is the official face of the local authority to have access to the information where necessary. That is where we have a fundamental disagreement on the matter and I ask the Minister of State to reconsider the position.

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