Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I also want to give my full support to this. I sat on Carlow Town Council for about 18 years. I could see the difference that the loss of the town council made, because I sat on both the county council and the town council. I will give an example. In Carlow, we originally had a €14 million town council budget. We then had what was called the "roadblock grant". I am sure members are aware of this. It came as a block grant of €400,000. Then, all of that was gone. It was as though we did not exist anymore. It made a serious difference to the town. Our town lost out so much in the structural funding and upkeep. It was as though everything had gone, overnight . I blame the then Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Phil Hogan, who represented my constituency, for abolishing the town councils.

I had real concerns because the financial report stated that a saving of €15 million was made from the abolition of town councils. This is all about money and funding. We need to have back the town councils and their budgets. We need to make sure the councils themselves meet every month. While we now have what are called municipal meetings, they are totally different. They have no comparable structure. The old structure incorporated rates and other sources of money, which constituted funding that would stay in the town.

Furthermore, my own local authority in County Carlow was originally a 21-seat council. There are now 18 seats. There were also cuts there. I agree that work is needed all over County Carlow but when the town's interests are trying to compete among 18 councillors concerned with the whole county, it does not work. It used to be the case that the town council had its own budget. The reality is that we need to get town councils and their funding back.

I must note I do not see Carlow town mentioned in Deputy Cassells's submission. I am sure he will put it in next time, because it has a population of nearly 27,000. I will be looking to ensure that Carlow is included. Deputy Cassells will have 100% of my support. It is crucial that we get back the town councils.