Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Stanley will recall the very valuable discussion on this issue on Committee Stage and I indicated there is scope to increase the number of members in the regional authorities without making them unwieldy. At the moment, there are 290 representatives on regional authorities. The policy document recommends that number be reduced to 62. We have in mind a number around 78 representatives. It will not be an arbitrary number of three members per local authority, for example; it will depend on the population to be represented. I plan to have discussions with the representative organisations about how a revision can be undertaken. For example, currently Dublin city with its population has the same number of members as County Leitrim and this does not make sense. This difference must be recognised and I do not mean any disrespect to Leitrim, Longford or Roscommon. The economy and the population of each area has to be taken into account. We are considering a regulatory measure to meet the objectives.

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