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

I hit the Secretary General last year with the point about how all things cannot be equal. He has nearly referred to it himself. When the LPT was introduced, I was a councillor and felt aggrieved that the general purpose grant would be diminished by the same amount as the LPT accrued. In real terms, we were no better off. People anticipated a strengthening of local government that would allow us to make more significant achievements in the public sphere but that did not happen to the extent it should have. I am not saying that it did not happen full stop, as it did. I acknowledge what councillors in my county dealt with at the time. On Monday, Oireachtas Members from our county received a briefing. We had been carrying a debt of €10 million, but that is now down to €1 million. The council is doing exemplary work in that regard. Due to the removal of the general purpose grant when the LPT was introduced, though, we did not achieve what we wanted to. By saying that we will give every council its own LPT revenue without leaving any worse off, are we again giving political commitments that will result in the impoverishment of local government? That circle cannot be squared.