Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

We know what political commitments are. If it is the Minister's intention to have a councillor involved in this way, the provision should be in the Bill and the Minister should introduce it on Report Stage. I will not labour the point further but I hope to see this political commitment included in the Bill through a Government amendment on Report Stage. Otherwise, we will treat the political commitment the same way as many others which have gone down the swanny over the past 18 months, especially since the budget.

The public is not very confident of political commitments and neither am I. I would accept the bona fides of the Minister in this regard if he included an appropriate Government amendment on Report Stage to allay the fears of all of us who spoke in favour of local authority membership on the boards.