Shane Cassells (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have a couple of quick questions. As I said at the outset, I knew there would be extremely insightful remarks from all four witnesses and I have a few questions to each of them. One is to Deputy Howlin regarding the statistics he quoted on spending. As I said to Mr. Dempsey before the meeting, Deputy Howlin would often make the point at the PAC that the Comptroller and Auditor General could never get a proper hold of what is spent within the local government system. Moreover, that has been exacerbated because of the various strands that have come in. For example in my home town of Navan, there is huge investment going in at the moment because of a special scheme from the NTA and in terms of that being reflected in local spend, what are Deputy Howlin's thoughts on that? I agree with him in terms of the impact, particularly in the boroughs because there was a special connection there. I do not wish to revisit old ground with Deputy Phelan but I do not think we are at odds here. I agree with him on the special need for a broader approach to making sure that local government is representative of all. Consequently, I do not disagree with him at all but I believe that Ireland has changed from that rural basis to an urban basis - I had this discussion with Deputy Ó Cuív - and because of national policy, we are becoming more urban-centric. As a result of national policy forcing this urban-centric nature, the representative bodies should be reflective of what national policy is doing on planning in respect of this and that. This leads to my question to Deputy Ó Cuív in terms of the regional tiers. This issue has been posed by councillors in the previous hearings, that is, whether the regional assemblies should move to a greater statutory function as well, given that the statutory bodies the State creates, whether that be for water or roads, are moving across county boundaries.

Deputy Ó Cuív touched on the regional tiers. We have actually had this discussion. In previous hearings, councillors have asked whether the regional assemblies should also have greater statutory functions given that the statutory bodies the State creates, whether for water or roads, are operating across county boundaries. I have a deep connection to the county structure but the State is creating bodies that breach those. Should we be creating bodies that are reflective of what the State itself is doing? That might be at odds with the hearing we are having.

Deputy Ó Cuív spoke about local media. The report of the Future of Media Commission called for a special fund to be created for activities such as covering elections. However, the problem is, and I am deeply critical of the Minister for this, it has not yet been put in place. It would have been of great assistance to many local newspaper and radio stations for this summer's local elections.

Deputy Phelan mentioned funding and commercial rates, which are issues that come up. Are rate charges fair where a highly profitable enterprise is able to operate from a very small space? What are the Deputy's views on that? On the flipside, and this is something Noel Dempsey will know about, Facebook opened a huge data centre on the border of Meath and Dublin. That is bringing in more in rates than most towns in Ireland are getting in commercial rates, so significant has been its impact. It is a difficult one. I would be interested in hearing Deputy Phelan's view on that given that he was closely aligned with the office that deals with those questions.

Noel Dempsey's call for full-time councillors, which I endorse, is highly significant. Will he expand on the impact that would have, not only as regards the financial reward but also what it would allow by way of human resources to rebalance the dynamic between councillors and officials?