Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This proposal is not in the interest of democracy in our country. Perhaps when the Minister is relaxing with his feet up, he might think about the damage he is doing to local government. I hope he will step back from what he is proposing. Stripping away representation at town council level will create a situation where our already overly centralised system of government, which places us at the bottom of the list among OECD countries, will be even more centralised.

I conclude by restating a question I asked yesterday, which the Minister avoided answering, about his proposal to establish district councils and fit them into a regional structure.