Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The chief executive officer is accountable to the local authority members. Let me give the Deputy a practical example of how that power should be wielded. Let us say I make the decision that a particular port be integrated in its entirety into the local authority structure. Financial decisions regarding that port will then form part of the budget that is put to the local authority members and on which they will vote. I cannot give a more tangible example of how I seek to empower both local authorities and local authority members than this. If a decision that has a financial impact on the local authority becomes part of the local authority budget, which it will, the local authority members will then be obliged to vote on it. I listened to the points made by Deputy Boyd Barrett on accountability. Local authority members will be able to bring before them the chief executive officer of the port or harbour and will be able to question that officer like the Deputy can do to me. This is precisely because what I seek to do is to recognise the role of local authorities as being best placed to deal with ports of a particular size and within this Bill, I make specific reference to the role of the members.

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