John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Heffernan and Mr. McCarthy should be aware that all I am hearing about from all over the country is the death knell for local democracy, transparency and accountability. It is outrageous and if it was a business, they would step in immediately and attempt to rescue it. We have abandoned not just transparency and accountability but also our traditions, our heritage and all that local government stood for. I know we should not comment on policy here but I think it is an appalling policy and it is one that will have to be reversed, undoubtedly, at some stage. That is my personal view.

An issue involving Meath County Council and dumping was raised at this committee previously. The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport were involved in the discussion because it related to road construction. Everyone is now running a million miles away from that problem and no one seems to want to resolve it. The latest twist in the story is that the individual who owns the site in question and on whose lands significant amounts of material was dumped, is now being asked for significant sums of money from the FOI section in the council in his efforts to resolve what was a wrongdoing by somebody in local government, the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport or somewhere. Is there anything Mr. McCarthy can do to determine exactly what the current position is in regard to this matter? It involves the Departments of Environment, Community and Local Government and Transport, Tourism and Sport and a citizen. It appears that the State is using its considerable muscle and understanding of the system to give this individual the runaround. All he wants is for whoever allegedly wrongly dumped material on the site to sort it out but he cannot get to first base with the local authority or with anyone else. In terms of serving the citizen, is there any possibility that someone from the local authority would intervene in some way and give him some direction as to the course he should take? I am not referring here to legal action but the course he should take to try to resolve the matter. Who is the decision maker in this process? We talked earlier about the transportation of material to Northern Ireland, illegal dumping and compensation of €30 million and here we have an individual who is trying to resolve matters and cannot do so.