I fully support the Fine Gael amendment. We need to grasp the nettle and take on board the wider issue of making local government real, meaningful and strong. There are hundreds of people in communities who would love to play a role in local government but there is no meaningful role for them. Local government has virtually no power. The majority of time at local authority estimates meetings is spent debating the final few thousand euro. How different this is from the estimates debates which took place in local authorities during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s when local councils had genuine power. We have gone backwards rather than forward where local government reform is concerned. If local government is to matter, it must be given additional powers and responsibilities.