Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Senator McDowell on that point, as I indicated on Second or Committee Stage. We cannot take away the local knowledge. I do not think that is the import of what the Minister of State intends to do. Rather than take power away from local government, we should be retaining certain functions for local government. In his earlier contribution Senator McDowell spoke about the proliferation of casinos and gaming machines in Dublin. The same could be said of other parts of the country, in particular around Cork city. I appeal to the Minister of State, and I am not saying that because I am a Member of this House or looking to keep councillors happy, but because this is genuinely important. When we were campaigning for the mayoral election in the plebiscite we talked about keeping power local and having accountability and transparency at local level. I earnestly believe that in the context of this Bill, the Minister of State has done a supreme job both in his previous incarnation as Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice and Equality and now as a Minister of State in this area. He deserves gargantuan praise and credit for what he has done, how he has steered this through and managed to bring a lot of people together. We cannot allow - I was about to say the Custom House-----