Councillors and executives of councils are anxiously awaiting the publication of legislation to give effect to the Putting People First document that the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government published a year ago. In the absence of that legislation and of direction by Government, they cannot ascertain how they are to provide the services and to further develop local authorities into the future.

Will the Taoiseach in the coming days honour his commitment to publish a resolution in regard to the Priory Hall situation, as he promised three weeks ago?

I expect that the local government Bill will come before the Cabinet next week, probably. It will change the balance between elected representatives and the executive or county manager system. Members who are currently serving and those who would wish to serve will be interested in the range of changes.

The discussions about Priory Hall are not concluded yet. The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government has taken the lead here. There is a lot of engagement at the moment and I do not expect it to be that far removed before we can announce what is the best solution that we can bring about here. It may not be within the 21 days but, believe me, there is a great deal of engagement in trying to sort it out. We will advise the House as soon as we have reached that.