Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is probably tired of listening to me but I am not going to change my approach. My approach is based on the fact that I have read all three reports, on my experience as a city councillor for 17 years and on my knowledge that bigger is not better.

The Minister of State is taking one aspect of the report, the recommendation of the proposed amalgamation and ignoring all the other points outlined by Deputy Ó Cuív. The city and county councils are underfunded, under-resourced and do not have enough staff. Notwithstanding all that, there is a very generous acknowledgement that both local authorities work very well together and they share resources. Nowhere in this documentation does it jump out that the greatest challenge is the fact that we have two local authorities. What jumps out is lack of staff, lack of money and the serious problems with regard to housing, transport and so on. This is not the result of having two local authorities but the direct result of a failure on the part of local authorities at one level and a bigger failure on the part of the Government to ensure funding for housing and providing sustainable transport. These are the important issues in Galway not a diversion in relation to a proposed amalgamation.

The report is not consistent. It refers to the serious lack of staff and then it states the same staff being united and being an enviable resource to any organisation. It talks about a condition precedent, which has been clearly articulated by Deputy Ó Cuív. We need the money and the staff. The challenge in Galway is money and staff, not amalgamation, but that has not been addressed. I do not like saying give us the money first, but I would like a recognition by the expert group of a lack of resources and a lack of staff. That must be dealt with first.

The expert group also talks about increasing the range of services provided by the local authorities, but the Minister of State has not mentioned any of those. I have just come from the Committee of Public Accounts and over and over we see that amalgamations have lead to significant problems without proper planning. We articulate what the taxpayer picks up after the event. The ETB is the latest example of that. The ETBs in their accounts have highlighted that they do not have enough resources for the internal audit. Can one imagine that? They highlight that the computers and the IT is not suitable. Five years on from the amalgamation, it is a mess.

The local ETB has confirmed that to us and it is no reflection on the staff. They are struggling with a merger that went through without any planning whatsoever, with no anticipation of what could happen and five years later, we are seeing the direct effects of that at a meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts. This is costing a lot of money and is burden on the taxpayer.

I will now talk about County Galway. I worked in Ballinasloe for many years in a different capacity so I am very familiar with the town and its hinterland. Galway goes from the Aran Islands to Portumna and Ahascragh. The Aran Islands are Irish speaking while in Inish Boffin, which is further north, they speak English.

It is totally wrong to say we need a city to drive the development of the county. That is a false concept that is not based on reality. The initial report of November 2015 stated that from the outset, the committee noticed a distinct lack of vision, planning and resource allocation by key stakeholders in regard to the need to revitalise towns throughout the county. I have no idea where the committee got that idea. My colleagues, DeputyÓ Cuív and Grealish, have repeatedly talked about the rural areas dying on their feet for lack of investment. Ballinasloe has a harbour and a railway station and it is going under. It makes no sense that it should be going under. It could be a feeder town for Galway with sustainable transport. The proposed plan would make the situation worse.

Even if I am incorrect, I can see no reason the committee want to go ahead with its plan now. There is no bona fidesin what it is proposing to do. The correct thing would be to bring forward a proper Bill with all the elements that we can discuss and look at. Well over 90% of all elected Deputies and councillors said "No" to this proposal. As far as I know, the vast majority engaged in the process. I certainly did, but was horrified the process was held in a hotel. I was horrified by the lack of Irish spoken and I was not over impressed by the expertise. Be that as it may, we now have the reports. The Minister is ignoring the content of the reports. I will be pressing my amendment.