Denis Landy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

As my party's spokesperson on local government in the Seanad, I thank the officials for attending today’s meeting. The action programme is quite detailed and has led to some confusion in the past week. Last Saturday, I attended a special delegate conference of my nominating body, the Association of Municipal Authorities of Ireland, AMAI, at which more than 130 councillors were present. To say they were confused would be an understatement. Several questions were raised with me at the meeting.

The establishment of the new local government system is arrived at by dividing 4,830 people into the population of the country giving a figure of 950 councillors. How was this formula devised? The original announcement was that there would six to nine councillors per district. It has now increased to ten. Is there further flexibility in that?

Much play has been made of the abolition of section 140 of the Local Government Act 2001. I have been informed strongly that most of the planning scandals came from other mechanisms of altering planning as opposed to provisions under section 140. In rural areas, section 140 dealt with specific one-off housing cases involving families and family members. Will the rest of the planning issues be examined which have been raised in the Mahon tribunal report?

It is proposed to change the county or city manager title to chief executive officer. My understanding is that chief executive officers implement policy but do not make it. There is no reference in the proposals to the City and County Management (Amendment) Act 1955 which gives the managers most of the powers they have. Will that legislation be rescinded?

Mr. Dowling indicated that he will seek to enhance the role of councillors by giving them new powers. For the last 18 months we were told that the designation of managers as CEOs meant that they would be doing the job of a CEO in terms of implementing policy rather than making it. I ask for clarification in that regard.

When will the boundary commission be established? This is an issue of great concern because people are awaiting the opportunity to make submissions to it. When will we see first light of the legislation, or at least the heads of a Bill? Will it be published before Christmas? For 18 months the new bodies were referred to as municipal district councils but the documents now refer to them as municipal districts, which has a completely different meaning to "municipal district councils". Can we ensure that the new legislation gives them the proper title of "municipal district councils"?

Deputy Catherine Murphy referred to the fact that three regional assemblies are to be established. I am interested in the powers they will be given. I served on a regional authority for many years and I also served on the committee of the regions. The disparity between what regional government does in this country compared with every other country in Europe is immeasurable. Can Mr. Dowling clearly explain the role that the new regional assemblies will play? Will they have powers to disburse European funding?

How will the budgets for district councils be arrived at? Will they be required to make annual submissions to the county councils for their budgets? Has a template for such a process been devised and, if not, how is the process envisaged and how will the new property tax impinge on it? Despite that fact that we are in the middle of the worst recession in many years, many town councils enjoy budget surpluses or own property. In County Meath, for example, a large tract of land was handed over to Kells Town Council by a private donor. What will happen to these surpluses and properties in the new structure?

How often will the new municipal district councils and county councils hold meetings? Will Irish Water be answerable to the new local government system? I was led to believe by the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy O'Dowd, that it would be answerable solely to the Oireachtas. In regard to economic development at local level, will the new entity comprise elected members or will the four pillars continue to be involved?