Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

This will be examined in the context of the governance aspects of the reform programme. This may take a little longer than the structural reform but between now and 2014, a fundamental rebalancing will see county and city managers being chief executive officers of the members who are directly elected by the people.

The question is asked whether big equals efficient. Cost savings have to be made in the current climate but this is not the only reason for mergers. The objective for mergers is to strengthen local government, of which Limerick is a good example. Local government was dying in Limerick city and to a greater extent than in the county. Limerick city centre was certainly undergoing a lot of economic difficulties and there was a lack of joined-up thinking and response from the local authority structures. County Limerick was pulling away some business opportunities from Limerick city and the cohesive approach of having a strong regional growth centre like Limerick county was putting the city centre under pressure. We all know that if a town centre is under pressure, this has a significant impact on the aesthetics of the place, the footfall, the business community and the dynamic of the city or the town in question. I do not want to go down the road of having a local authority at every crossroads, such as they have in France with 37,000 local authorities. It is a huge country but I do not believe that is an appropriate model. I think we can develop a structure that will take account of the principles referred to by Senator Landy such as sub-county municipal units that will provide local representation as close as possible to the citizen without duplication and a multitude of local authorities. Norway has been mentioned. Oslo and other cities have been mentioned in terms of local government structures. They have done many mergers in recent years and included the hinterland. I am not opposed in principle to a directly elected mayor but, equally, it is not a priority. It is an expensive process.