Mr. Denis Conlan:

Mr. Dowling has mentioned that I deal with the question of ratios and representation. With regard to the budgets for the municipal districts, from recollection, the document states specifically that the overall budget for the county will have to take account of the decisions made by members at district level. It also makes reference to a number of other possible ways of giving specific recognition to the district in the estimates and the funding process, for example, by taking account of it in the determination of block allocations, by taking account of the level of revenue raised within the particular district and - Deputy Murphy referred to this in the Dáil earlier - the fact that towns, including non-rating authorities, have the power to add a certain amount through locally applicable charges. Something along these lines is mentioned. However, it will have to be worked out in greater detail in the development of the legislation.

At regional level, the starting point for the functions of the new regional assemblies should be a combination of the functions of the current assemblies and the regional authorities subject to the point Mr. Dowling made about the next round of EU funding. It has yet to be fully clarified and determined and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has the lead role in that regard. The hope is that will be the starting point. That means, for example, that the regional planning guidelines function will remain and the document provides that it will be significantly strengthened by expanding it to include regional, spatial and economic strategies, with a requirement that all State agencies engage in a more meaningful way with the regional authorities in adopting these strategies and that they adhere to them, particularly in the context of economic development with all of the economic agencies. The problem up to now has been up that many of the agencies such as IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, FÁS and its replacement have had difficulty in engaging with the local government system at county level. It has become difficult to do it with reduced resources and so forth. The regional level, therefore, will have a much stronger role in economic development and ensuring there is a coherent approach across the region in order that different cities and areas will not be competing for inward investment with all the players involved at regional level. The role of the regional assemblies in local government oversight functions is also additional.

I refer to the ratios and from where the figures and so on come. Clearly, there will be a significant reduction in the total number of elected members as a result of the changes proposed and, in recognition of this, the Government looked at the scope for increasing the number at county council level. As a component of this at the district level, clearly in the current financial climate the scope for increased county and city level numbers was somewhat limited and, as a result, the overall number that emerged in the Government decision which is reflected in the document was 950. It is from this figure that the ratio of 1:4,830 emerges. If the total population is divided by 950, that is the figure that emerges. However, the number per area will only emerge as the terms of reference for the electoral review are published and it is a matter for the Minister to set up a committee under the Local Government Acts and set out the terms of reference. The report gives strong pointers in that direction. It refers to the figure of 4,830 as a benchmark. It also refers to the case for having a weighting for the distribution of existing municipal towns that have a local authority and other large centres of population that do not and for town councils and the city areas within the authorities that are merging in Limerick and Waterford.