The Council of Europe's Congress of Local and Regional Authorities completed a review of local government, the report of which was adopted on 25 October. It was absolutely scathing of Ireland. It ranked Ireland just above Hungary, the Russian Federation and Moldova. We were poor right across the board. The review described our system as being more akin to local administration as opposed to local government. Local elections are due to be held next year. Will the Government respond to the findings and recommendations of this report in advance of those? Either we are serious about the European Charter on Local Self-Government and about the Council of Europe, or we are not.

I thank Deputy for her question. The Government will respond to the report in question. As the Deputy said, we will have local elections next year. This Government believes in local democracy and in empowering our local councils and giving them as much power as possible. As the Deputy knows, the Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy O'Donnell, is currently bringing legislation through the House in respect of the Mayor of Limerick. I will ask him to respond to the Deputy on the specific issues she has raised.