Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I usually do not speak for long at these meetings but I want to make a point I feel strongly about. The areas I mentioned earlier have experienced some of the problems in the areas the Minister of State has identified. Drogheda and Bray are on that list but Swords, Dundalk, Navan and Kilkenny are not on it. Those are the biggest towns. The point I raised earlier holds water. The reason for this is the increase in the urban areas, particularly around Dublin. I do not disagree with the idea but how and by whom will it be initiated? Must both councils initiate it and must they both agree? Another issue is that planning is not included along with transport, housing, infrastructure and business and trade as one of the areas for people outside of the elected members with specialist expertise. It should be included.

If a group is around a table, will they have equal status in terms of voting on the plan? There will also be problems between elected and non-elected members. I am not against the proposal in principle. However, I know of a case where consensus was achieved among county councils but it did not work. The difficulty I foresee is where municipal districts in the councils do not buy into this. In a co-joint area, would the municipal districts in the councils make the recommendations or would it be the whole council? It is important to clarify that because there could be a difference of opinion. The municipal district might not want this. Difficulties could arise in scenarios similar to the one I outlined in the case of counties Meath and Louth. I, too, welcome the discussion in principle but we need to think this through. Perhaps it can be fleshed out on Report Stage.

There are serious dangers with this proposal because the areas can have as many as 99,999 people living in them. The point is well made about moving outside of a small map. The area covered could be very large. In parallel with this, a paper is needed on why those eight towns were selected. I am not disagreeing with the selection as it reflects my own point of view. However, this needs to be planned because in some cases an area committee could be set up when what is needed is a complete reform of the whole functional area of the council. It is late in the day to be discussing this but there are important issues here. I welcome the Bill in principle but I would like to tease out these issues, if possible.