Larry Butler (Fianna Fail)

I am worried about this also. The county council is sacrosanct in terms of how it develops the county without interference from a regional authority. The role of the latter should be to standardise practices in the region. That is fine but I am quite worried about how a regional authority will be able to affect a local county council and its development plan for the county. All regional authorities have representation from the county councils but we know the real decisions are made by county managers, who are involved in the regional authorities. I know this because I was a member of a regional authority and know how it works. It is for this reason that I have concerns.