Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I think this proposal is previous. What guides me in the first place is the report published by the expert group. The report and the letter accompanying it, and the press release issued by the expert group, were clear that, prior to any decision, it is the underlying money issue, not the money for the merger, particularly in Galway County Council but also in Galway City Council, that should be addressed. The covering letter states: "It is well recognised by the Expert Advisory Group and local government arrangements in Galway that the funding available to the two local authorities in Galway was inadequate". The press release stated that the recommended amalgamation must be preceded by addressing efficiency in both human and financial resources as noted by the group. The report states:

The Group notes the significant revenue underfunding of the Galway local authorities relative to comparators, in addition to staffing constraints in key areas. On the basis that the existing resources available to both organisations are not commensurate with realising the vision of an effective amalgamated authority, the Expert Advisory Group recommends that the existing deficiencies in respect of both the human and financial resources be expeditiously resolved as an essential prerequisite to the amalgamation process.

What I keep saying again and again is that we have to sort the underlying money first. We have had discussions but the discussions related to a small amount of money that was to be given as part of the merger process, which we would have got anyway, even if we were well funded. It had nothing with regard to dealing with the underlying financial issue that the experts who were appointed by the Department set as a prerequisite and a prelude.

There is a second issue of concern. This seems like a pre-emptive move to decide that merger is the way forward. Again, we need to look at what happened in Cork. I understand the recommendation in Cork was for merger but, when it was looked at in a much wider context by a small expert group, and when all the implications were taken into account, it was decided that there would not be a merger but there would be a boundary extension.

We have submitted a document where we list out the unknowns we need answers to before we could consider this matter further. Obviously, the first unknown is that we need to have the money on the table but, after that, there are a whole series of other questions on which we need clarification. Then, we could talk to the public, and to all the interests within the public, from Inishbofin all the way over to Ballinasloe, and from Crusheen on the Galway-Clare border up north, where I live myself, to Dunmore and Glinsk, and all of these areas that are miles away, and then make an informed decision. These are very practical issues because policy cannot be decided without going in detail through the outworking of how this might work.

I suggest the Minister of State withdraw this section and find some way to interact with the elected members for Galway, that is, the Oireachtas Members but also the local authority members of both the city and county councils, in order to deal with all these issues. In that way, we will all come to an informed decision as to what is best not only for Galway city, which is very important, but also for all the people living on the offshore islands, right across the county to the plains of east Galway, where the food we eat is produced.

We need to have this debate first. It seems to me that the Minister is putting the cart before the horse. We need to take the horse around from the back and hitch it to the front of the cart.