Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I concur with my colleagues, Deputies Ó Cuív and Connolly. I would have liked to have been able to have come into the Dáil and to this meeting and said that I supported this Bill because it is the future for Galway. It is not, it is ill thought out and it is being rushed. Proper debate and discussion has not taken place. The Minister of State has to listen to the politicians from Galway. We are elected by the people of Galway. We are on the ground and hear what is happening on the ground. There are a total of 57 councillors, with only three supporting this merger.

I request the Minister of State to come to a meeting of Galway County Council and a meeting of Galway City Council and sit in both Chambers with councillors. I want the Minister of State to give a commitment that he will do that and will listen to the councillors. They should have a say in this also. I firmly believe that Galway County Council is being deliberately starved of funds by the Department to force it to agree to a merger. I am not going to repeat what I said in the Dáil when this was debated. My colleague, Deputy Ó Cuív, said recently that if Galway were to receive the proper level of funding on a par with any local authority, it should be getting an extra €70 million. We would require an additional €70 million to bring us up to par with other local authorities.

Galway is at the bottom of the list in respect of the local property tax. I have been told it will come up the list in the review but I do not want to be told we will be number five in the review of the property. I want to know exactly what funding will be put in place. I do not want to vote for a Bill that I will regret in four or five years' time when I see the results of no proper planning and debate. That includes the elected representatives in Galway also. I want to know exactly to the penny what funding will be put in place if this happens without the support of all elected representatives from Galway, both local and national, which I think would be very wrong. It would be very wrong to railroad this Bill through without the political support of the vast majority of the Oireachtas Members and the county councillors. If one wants this to work and to merge both city and county and have the two chambers coming together, one needs them to support the Bill, and not be against it.

I support my colleagues, Deputies Connolly and Ó Cúiv, and the amendment and ask that all reference to Galway is withdrawn from this Bill. Let the Cork Bill go through. There is support for the Cork Bill in the Chamber. I compliment Deputy Ó Broin for listening to us and to our concerns. He came in here with an open mind. He has not given a commitment as to what he will do but he has listened to the debate and he will make a decision. I ask the Minister of State to take Galway out of the Bill. Let us have a full and proper debate and not appoint a chief executive. Once that chief executive is appointed for both the city and county, the train will have left the station and will be heading down the railway line and we will not be able to stop it.

I support Deputies Ó Cúiv and Connolly and all the councillors in Galway who are of the same view. I have not heard Deputy Rabbitte's contribution yet but I hope she will support us. I know Deputy Fitzmaurice has great reservations.

Take Galway out of the Bill. Let us bring in a new Bill in the new year to deal with the appointment of a new chief executive, with the funding, with the merger and with the issues that go one from one end of the county to the other. That is all I ask of the Minister of State. I ask that all Oireachtas Members support us on this.