Brendan Ryan (Labour)

I move amendment No. 18:

In page 18, line 43, to delete "from" and substitute the following:

"one of whom shall be an elected member of a local authority in the GDA nominated by local authorities in the GDA acting jointly, and the others being".

It is very important that at least one public representative should be on the board of the GDA. There has been cross-party support for this idea. In previous debates on the Bill many on the Government side indicated that local representatives should be on the board. I ask the Minister of State to consider accepting the amendment.