Mr. Des Dowling:

Deputy Murphy's questions touch on some of the issues that Senator O'Sullivan mentioned. To start at the top level, the emphasis has been on trying to maintain a connection with the citizen wherever possible. I know about the Deputy's own experience at town government level and anybody involved in that sector continuously emphasises this point. The practical position is, however, that there is huge unevenness among towns across the country. It has grown from a historical aspect rather than from a planned approach. We have to move from the present system to try to achieve greater evenness. As the policy document says, we must capitalise on that connectivity at a local level but in a way that does not compete with the interests of managing matters overall in the county.

We should make a distinction between the way area committees have operated and what the new municipal districts will do. The area committees deal with county matters from an area viewpoint, which is quite different to the range of functions town authorities have traditionally had and which municipal districts will have in the new configuration. They are intended to be integrated at county level.

Notwithstanding the connectivity the Deputy has mentioned, we should also acknowledge the duplication in various counties between town and county. That is not in the interest of citizens who may wish to do their business in a particular way but may have both town and county offices in a particular area. The programme seeks to rationalise that in a way that makes sense to the citizen, rather than from a bureaucrat's perspective.

This will not necessarily be a quick process but it can only lead to a better outcome for ratepayers and taxpayers. There will be work involved in rationalising offices. Mr. Conlan has already referred to the extent to which council chambers and meeting places will be required for municipal districts. In respect of functions at local level, certain service points have to be provided for people who want to do their business with the local authority. As the Deputy's question implied, each local authority will have a different position depending on the current dispensation and the extent to which town authorities already have offices in the area. Starting from now, authorities will put in place plans to lead to a better organisation.

Earlier this afternoon in the Dáil, the Minister covered regional government fairly closely. The emphasis was to try to maximise representation at the lowest possible level, by securing election in the first instance to municipal districts and secondly at county level. That will be used as the basis for provision of representation at regional level, rather than setting up a directly elected third and separate tier for regional assemblies. Those are the main points I wanted to make.