Aidan Davitt (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Senator Murnane O'Connor is active on matters in Carlow, which is close to the Minister of State's heart. I welcome the Minister of State and councillors Cormac Devlin and Joe Malone who are representing the Local Authorities Members Association, LAMA, today. In my county of Westmeath, we had a long-standing problem with the harmonisation of rate valuations between Athlone and Mullingar, as the Minister of State would know.Harmonisation caused many problems for the county, as Senator McFadden and I learned when we served on Westmeath County Council together. Special funds and resources are probably needed to address this. It is very hard to change a rate. To try to bring a rate down will not be helpful to anybody. To try to bring a rate so far up is exceptionally hard, particularly in the Mullingar area. If something could be done in this area, it would be practical.

The Minister of State was present for a Committee Stage debate here ten days or so ago and he told us he hoped he would have the Moorhead report at hand in ten days. Could he enlighten us on that?