Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)

I want to follow on from what I stated earlier. I agree with my colleague in respect of moving powers from the local base to regional authorities. The latter are only reviewing and refreshing their own guidelines at present. We do not know what powers we will be transferring up the line from councillors to the regional authorities. We do not know what process will be in place for people to view new guidelines or plans. At present, guidelines can be observed where appropriate or set aside where there is significant reason for doing so. We are now putting in place a system whereby the regional authorities will basically have a policing role. They will be judge and jury and will be able to rule whether development plans and actions by county councils are appropriate. They will be able to overrule the county councils. All public representatives are concerned that power will be moved from them to regional authorities, which will have elected members but also public servants adjudicating on their role.