Brendan Daly (Fianna Fail)

In section 18, I accept the Minister's explanation why he felt it necessary to exclude members of local authorities from membership of this authority. It might be important to have local authority members on bodies such as this because there would be a link between what the authority is doing in the locality and what the local authority is doing. In Ennis, the local authority has been involved in the provision of sports facilities with State funding. It would be in the best interests of such authorities to have a democratic input from an elected representative on such an authority. For those two reasons it would be important that careful consideration be given to excluding members of local authorities who would have the benefit of being democratically elected to local authorities and bring a democratic view to an authority, which it might not have otherwise.

Under another section of the Bill, the chief executive can be called before Oireachtas committees. While Members of the Oireachtas can make their input here on Oireachtas committees, members of local authorities cannot do so. While I accept what the Minister has said in this case, in future we should consider that it might be desirable to have a link between a local authority member and this authority or to have a democratic input into such meetings.