Mr. John McCarthy:

In terms of devolution, the first two important steps are happening at the moment. The county enterprise boards have been dissolved and are now in local authorities as local enterprise offices. In terms of microenterprise support, it is an important additional function going into local government. The new legislation provides an important role for the local authority in coordinating economic development at local level. The third area concerned the community development side and greater alignment between local development and community development. This is not to take it over but to ensure both systems work together in a more cohesive way. The Government's action programme sets out that it will keep under review the possibility of further devolution of power to local authorities. The important thing, with new councils coming into play, is for those local authorities to show form in dealing with economic development, microenterprise and community development functions as a platform towards further devolution. One of the important changes in the Local Government Reform Act is that the existing power to allow powers of Ministers of the Government to be devolved to local authorities has been widened. The powers of State agencies can now be devolved to local authorities where the relevant Minister agrees. Further progress can be made along that road.

There is a significant amount of dezoning of land to deal with the over zoning issues the Deputy described in respect of town centres. One of the important functions features of the local government structure is the replacement of town councils by municipal districts. This means there will no longer be a border running through the suburbs of the town, with two local authorities trying to manage the competing forces of town centre development and development in the suburbs. We are turning our heads towards the replacement of the national spatial strategy with a new national planning framework.

Fracking is being led by our colleagues in the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. As the committee is aware a piece of research is being undertaken jointly by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources.