Ms Marie Moloney:

Thank you for allowing me to come here today to make a case for the reinstatement of town councils and to support Deputy Howlin's town council Bill. I come from Killarney, a major tourism town that is steeped in history. Killarney Town Council was an important link with the local chamber of commerce and with local retail and industries and most important of all, with the people of Killarney town and its hinterland. A major benefit of town councils is to encourage the role of the town as a hub for the local economy.

I must acknowledge that there is now a Killarney municipal district which is a sub-committee of Kerry County Council. However there is a huge demand on the members of the municipal districts to give a service to their constituents as they have a huge rural area to cover in addition to the urban areas. Killarney municipal district has a population of around 38,000 people and it covers a much wider area than the town itself, which has a population of slightly fewer than 15,000 people. The members of the municipal district have to attend to a lot of county-wide policy, activities, and meetings, whereas the town councillors could focus exclusively on the needs of the town as an urban district area.

Killarney is really the tourism capital of Ireland that constantly wins prizes in the tourism industry and from all guides and tourism reviewers. The brand name, "Killarney", is huge abroad. Tourism is a major part of the economy in Killarney and there are a number of ways in which a town council and a dedicated town mayor would benefit tourism. For example, Killarney is noted for its festivals and events in the town, where a town mayor plays an important ceremonial role. There are also meetings with delegations, including tour operators. The role of mayor of a town the size of Killarney is certainly demanding and is practically full time. The chairpersons of the municipal districts have a range of other important duties and many rural events and festivals to attend where they represent the district and Kerry County Council.

Killarney town is twinned with five towns in Europe and has a sister city agreement with four cities in the USA. These are vital links for Killarney as they promote the town abroad and are responsible for a huge influx of tourists to Killarney and subsequently to County Kerry as a whole. It is imperative that when officials from our twin towns in Europe and sister cities in the US visit Killarney that they are greeted by a town mayor along with our twinning committee, a mayor who can dedicate his or her time to assisting and accompanying these officials during their visit. It is also imperative that Killarney reciprocate the visits by travelling to these twinned towns and cities, to promote Killarney and Kerry abroad, but to be able to do this a mayor must have a dedicated allowance as they cannot be expected to finance the visits themselves.

As Killarney is heavily reliant on the tourism sector for employment, with few or no new industrial jobs or manufacturing companies coming to this area, it is imperative that we nurture and enhance our tourism industry. The more tourists that visit Killarney and Kerry as a whole, the better the knock-on effect for the accommodation sector, the small and medium retail outlets, restaurants and bars along with the entertainment sector, all of which provide employment in the area. A Killarney tourism economic impact report revealed that tourism in the town generates €410 million annually. Killarney welcomes 1.1 million visitors annually, which support over 3,000 local jobs.

As I am a candidate to contest the county council elections, I have been spending a lot of time knocking on doors in the Killarney area and time and time again the people have asked me about reinstating the town council. Many of them feel a little disconnected from the members of the municipal district, feeling they have too big an area to cover to give dedicated time to the town. They felt when the town councillors were in place they could solely apply their time to servicing the town and ensuring that things like footpaths, roads and housing estates were up to scratch and this was not their only function, as they assisted people with their personal needs such as housing, planning, and the upkeep of local authority houses among other things. It was a major mistake to dissolve the town councils and if we recognise that a mistake has been made we must be prepared to admit it and do something to rectify the mistake and that is what Deputy Howlin is doing by introducing this important Bill. We must reinstate town councils as statutory bodies with full autonomy. Town councils were an integral part of local democracy which has now been diminished. How can we in Ireland be such defenders of local governance and differ in this aspect from every town in Europe? Yesterday, trade unions representing more than 30,000 local council workers launched a campaign for substantially increased revenue and funding powers for local authorities and published research that showed Irish councils have less autonomy than their counterparts in 39 European countries. Their More Power to You campaign also calls for legislative changes to facilitate directly-elected mayors and restore and expand town councils. While I have spoken predominantly about Killarney town, what I have outlined can apply to many towns around the country, therefore I trust that Deputy Howlin will get support from all parties and none for this Bill, because town councils have been an important part of Irish democracy for hundreds of years.