John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The staffing issues at NOAC have been brought to my attention. In light of the amount of work NOAC is trying to do, I agree it is insufficient for it to have just five members of staff. The balance of powers between local authority executives and members is under consideration in the report that is being drafted at present. When we reflect on the possibility of providing for executive chairs of councils, we must consider whether that can happen right across the country, the timeframe for doing this and period of time for which they would remain in office. I have been an advocate of this approach for a long time. There are examples across the country of local authorities where the balance of power does not seem to work properly. As we all know, elected members are held accountable whenever there is an election. There is certainly a need for greater accountability at senior management level in our local authorities. I accept that there are many fine chief executives and senior managers at local authority level. As they know, they have nothing to fear from accountability. I assure the Senator that we are giving active consideration to the matters we are discussing.