The Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities completed a review into local government last October. I raised this issue in November and have raised it in parliamentary questions subsequently. The report was scathing. It found, not surprisingly, that Ireland has the most centralised system of local decision-making and referred to the balance of power between the Executive and reserved functions at local authority level. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael McGrath, who was taking questions that day said that this Government believes in local democracy, in empowering our local councils and giving them as much power as possible. Nothing substantial has really been done apart from the legislation for the directly elected mayor in Limerick, which I welcome. The substantive issue, however, has not been addressed. Is the Government responding to this report or is it merely going on the shelf?

I certainly hope we intend to respond to the report. I will familiarise myself with the points the Deputy made, which she has raised before but which have just come to my attention here. I will certainly familiarise myself with that. I would point to some steps we have taken. As the Deputy has acknowledged, having a directly elected mayor in Limerick is a not insignificant step, which the Deputy has welcomed. We did offer that to other parts of the country too. That is an important election and an important example of expanding the powers of directly elected people in local government. The property tax has given real revenue-raising powers in the real decisions to be made. Councillors have those decisions around property tax and its revenue every year - to go up, to go down or whatever else - in a way that we certainly did not when I was a member of Wicklow County Council.