Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Yes. Some of what I have to say ties in with the comments of other members. Deputy Cassells is correct that we have one of the most centralised systems of government and weakest forms of local government in Europe. It is a tragedy that in the history of the State we have probably produced more commissions and reports on local government reform than anything else. Political parties are always very strong on reform when they are in opposition but very reluctant to introduce reform when in government. That applies to all political parties. That is partly due to the fact that once one gets into central government, one is very nervous about giving away power to local authorities, in particular those which central government does not control.

Deputy Cassells is also correct that there are many examples of good practice across the European Union. I probably know Spain better than others and it has a very strong system of town municipalities that control not only services but also traffic police and have a range of powers. The value of that is that local people identify in a very civic-minded way with those services and the taxes they pay for them and it creates strong community cohesion and identity, as Deputy Cassells said. What is also done well in such countries is the division of powers between local, county and regional areas such that councillors are not reduced to looking after the closest area to where they live but, rather, as Deputy O'Sullivan stated, are able to understand their role in delivering local services and, more strategically, in terms of the management of inter-town or inter-parish realities. They are also independently funded and there is no point in us seriously discussing the reform of local government powers unless we find a way to give local government an independent means of raising revenue. That is a far more difficult political nut to crack but if it is not done one will have the situation, as is currently the case in many local authorities, whereby many councillors are quite comfortable not having power or revenue-raising responsibility because they can then take credit for everything that is good and blame the manager or Minister for everything that is bad. Deputy O'Sullivan is entirely correct that such a cultural change is as much the responsibility of political parties and local councillors as it is of central government. That is directly related to why this is a good Bill because it does not just concern returning to the status quoin terms of town councils and is not just saying one should turn back the clock and go back to what we had. That is because if the Bill is to deliver the kind of system Deputy Cassells outlined in his presentation, we need town councils and local authorities that take executive control over their budgets and programmes such that elected representatives are not simply advocates but, rather are decision makers with whom the buck stops. The Bill is a very good one. One could have put forward a Bill that would result in a return to the status quobut Deputy Cassells has not done that. Rather, he has created a process that would allow us to seriously consider all the reforms that have been mentioned and that is one of the many reasons Sinn Féin supported the Bill on Second Stage.

I have some questions on areas of the Bill on which members may wish to tease out potential friendly amendments on Committee Stage in the spirit of the Bill. On setting up a commission, if one wants the commission to go a certain way one must give it directional terms of reference. If we want strong local town councils with executive functions, that must be outlined in the terms of reference such that the commission does not have a blank sheet but is moving in that direction. If we want to consider a more continental style of local government with executive government decision making and independent revenue raising, that must be contained in the terms of reference such that the commission will come back with options. That could be a useful addition to the Bill.

The proposed number of commission members is probably too small. Given the complexity of the issues involved, three members is very few. One does not want a very large commission but, for example, as the Bill stands only one representative would have business or community development experience and one might want a little more than that, without making the commission too unwieldy. It would be useful to have a member with international experience, be that a person from overseas or with academic experience in the area, who could draw on what works in those positive continental or Scandinavian models. A timeline would be of benefit because we know from history that commissions often go on for very long periods.

A huge body of research has already been done. Deputy O'Sullivan mentioned one report but there has probably been a major Government-sponsored report on the reform of local government every decade since the foundation of the State. Something that is very time limited, such that the commission is given terms of reference but told it has to come back within------