Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I cannot dictate to the population of the Ballina municipal area who they should elect. If there are between six and ten seats in the electoral area, I am sure the people where there is greatest population will ensure they have good representation. Those outside the area will have an equal opportunity to vote for people, irrespective of whether they are from urban or rural areas. There is no quota for an area outside a particular municipal area.

I want to align the community sector with local government, as there is too much duplication and administrative overlap. I want to maintain front-line services and they will get the bulk of money in preference to administrative structures. The socioeconomic committees have been put in place in the local government sector and people in the community sector will have representation and be part of the decision-making process with local elected members. The details have not yet been finalised but we are engaged with the community sector in order to conclude the matter. I hope that will happen in the next few weeks.

We have a chequered history with some of the Leader areas, including that of the Deputy, and there have been difficulties in resolving some outstanding issues and irregularities. Meitheal Forbartha na Gaeltachta had to be liquidated and there was a difficulty in getting files subsequently. That is not acceptable practice in terms of accountability. We also ran into some difficulties with the European Commission with regard to those issues of accountability, and we are working through them with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to ensure the rural development programme did not collapse. It has motivated me even more in developing new administrative structures.

Protecting the client base on local enterprise offices, LEOs, is important and I expect the city and county enterprise boards would be a horizontal move into local government, with local government's contributing to development through planning and advice going through a local authority to assist people in setting up a new business. That would be in one location in local government. It is amazing to see the number of difficulties arising in State agencies when they feel something is slipping away and into local government, and I did not believe there would be such hassle about devolution of responsibility. It is not easily done. The social partners are getting in on the action as well. Although there is good representation at a national level with Enterprise Ireland, there is no wish to let go of the issues.

I am disappointed by some of the representative bodies at national level, such as the Small Firms Association and the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association, because of the negative approach they have taken to local government. If local government is not given more power and responsibility, it will be painted as an entity that is unable to deliver. I am trying to ensure it has more power and responsibility, along with funding possibilities. At a local level, people should be able to go to an office and get a full suite of advice and necessary support. That is only available now in a very disjointed way. Whether people are on enterprise boards or community development in local government, everything should be in one place and people should have access to all that information.