John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. McCarthy and his team. On the funding of local government, when one looks at the graph of the allocation of funding, one sees that there has been a dramatic drop since 2008 and I think that has impacted on the level of services. While there has been a subvention of funding, the €2.4 billion now is considerably less than the €5.8 billion in 2008. There is a real deficit or shortfall.

Will Mr. McCarthy explain the situation on the status of the gateway cities?

There was a huge investment programme by the Department in Sligo predicated on the population in the region growing from 20,000 to 100,000. Mr. McCarthy's Department encouraged the necessary adjustment and spend which resulted in huge inherited debt which is now left on the books of local authorities. Every service was put in, encouraged, designed and promoted by the Department and the debt has been left with the local authority. There is now a huge deficit in Sligo County Council where services and essential services are being cut and libraries are being closed. I understand they have spoken with Mr. Lemass but this huge debt was promoted by the Department, taken on board by the CEO of the council at the time and driven by the Department, yet there is no retribution at all. The local authorities are expected to service this debt and it is cutting back services.

A case was taken in Sligo which went to the Supreme Court. It was encouraged by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and its officials who are witnesses in the case, and which will cost €5 million or €6 million in legal costs alone. The local authority is duty bound by the State and the Department and the Government. This case will set a precedent on rights of way which were deemed to be local authority but were proven, in court, to be private. That legal bill has to be paid by the local authority. Should it not be paid by the Department? The payment of this legal bill will result in the removal of practically every service in the area. Will Mr. McCarthy comment on this?

The gateway status was a very ambitious plan at the time but the insight or the vision behind it was very much misguided. It was based on the concept that one could quadruple a population in a region of the west. Could the Department advise on how local authorities are to deal with this huge debt? Even with the local property tax, the distribution by the State of motor taxation and what was given by the Exchequer in 2008, I believe that local authorities have a major problem of funding. In a small population with a small ratable base there is no point in saying we are giving back the LPT or matching the equivalent fund. It is different in Dublin and it is not equivalent.