I readily admit that mine is a minority opinion regarding the direct election of cathaoirligh. That provision had the potential to effect a significant transformation in local government. I readily concede that most councillors did not welcome the change. I have been chairman of a local authority on ten different occasions and I valued that opportunity. The job is changing almost on an annual basis. It would have been far more effective to hold the chair for a period longer than one year. That lack of continuity retards and inhibits local government. The annual rotation is not a good practice. Anybody who has been chairman of a county council or a city council will readily acknowledge that it is no longer just a part-time position but an onerous and a full-time job. If these two tenets are recognised, it will just be a question of who elects the chair.