Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Chairman is quite right about this being a significant document. It is a pity that much of this information was not provided at the time of the hearing, given that it was easily accessible to the officials concerned and would have been helpful in the course of the discussion on the day, since the questions posed could have been anticipated.

There is an overdependency on our rates system, as illustrated in the pie charts. Now, 36% of local authority funding is dependent on commercial rates. Due to the combination of the revaluation process that is taking place across the country and the equalisation process, whereby many urban areas are being brought up to county rates, major pressure is being placed on small businesses, yet these statistics show that this crutch is growing even larger. I asked repeatedly on the day whether that was sustainable, but it is not.

Along with other Deputies, I asked about the per capitafunding. The graphs are very illuminating in this regard. My county of Meath has one of the largest populations in the Dublin commuter area with nearly 200,000 people, yet we have the lowest per capitaspend by a long way at €522. We are also the least staffed county. These statistics are damning of the system and how it is funded and structured. It is structured on an historical basis and did not keep pace with the population explosions of the 2000s. It is a sad indictment of the Department as an institution that it has not been able to react to this situation. It is an outdated Department when it comes to reacting to the pressures facing counties like Meath, Louth, Wicklow and Kildare. The statistics show that. If they had been available to us on the day, they would have given more credence to the arguments that we were making. A spend of €522 per capitais a sad indictment of the manner in which local government in County Meath and, indeed, other counties is structured.

Section 4 relates to direct build provision. We debate the issue of housing day in, day out in the Chamber. The statistics show that the level of provision is not meeting the crisis. The front page of today's Irish Independenthighlights this. Some 2,100 homes have received full or partial approval from the Department and have still not proceeded. That front page story is a sad indictment of where we are.

These statistics paint a very different picture than the spin and bluster with which the committee is being presented. I reiterate the point that, when we deal with Departments, the full suite of statistics must be available to us so that we can do our job properly and hold people to account. The statistics tell a different story of what is happening.