Rebecca Moynihan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I do not want to go over the ground that members have already covered but it is important to come back to the point made by Deputy McAuliffe in respect of essentially devolving this to local authorities. While the waivers of fee are welcome, it was a short-term and temporary measure, albeit one that identified a problem of which many people had been aware for a long time. I refer to the lack of flexibility in respect of having things like markets and open markets in Dublin. I worked with the Dublin Flea Market for a long time, trying to get a space for it. Eventually, the company had to be wound up.

I have worked with groupings that were looking at having night markets along the same lines that are in places such as Thailand. Every stage of that process was interrupted by either bureaucracy or local authorities saying that they could not help because they did not have the powers to do it. I welcome these measures. I take on board all the points that have been made, for example, on the private annexing of public space and disability access.

I am very glad the Minister commented on how we need to tackle the car culture in our city and making it more liveable, walkable and bikeable. That is very important. However, there is a much wider issue in this regard of devolved powers to local governments to allow them to set their own by-laws when it comes to traffic management in certain areas in order to provide, say, for outdoor markets. This is a welcome step, but we need to go much further. Has the Minister plans for a review of this or to bring forward legislation that would devolve this power to local authorities?