Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I was asked about the hotel tax which, it is important to note, is different from a tourist tax. That was one example. An even more important example was the issue of the vacant and derelict sites tax. If that had been revenue that was coming directly to councils and that councils were able to ring-fence in order to reform and address dereliction that would have been very significant. Lessons should be learned in terms of the land value tax also. Those are revenue-raising issues but that is only one small part. The main part is around the increase in central funding. As was pointed out, with local property tax, effectively we saw a drop in central funding. I refer to central funding going to local authorities in terms of housing and administration matters. It is not simply about having money to do things, it is about how we do things. For example, during the recession local authorities were expressly banned from buying houses and instead forced to go with leasing arrangements that ended up costing more and they did not own the houses in the end. We see the consequences of a 20-year contract during which a house could have been sold four or five times. Those are examples. There were poor decisions around leasing. Services are being contracted out again and again instead of recruiting full maintenance teams like we used to have at local level. Local authorities are not able to hire people and give them a five, ten or 20 year contract with the council. In respect of maintenance and heritage work, people who can do that kind of environmental work will always be needed as will people who can work on water services. Why it matters that there is more funding is not about more money moving through the councils but that it is done in a way that allows councils to plan significantly.

With regard to planning, I had a litany issues that would have bored everybody but I can count at least 20 amendments we have tried to bring forward in the last few years that proposed small changes to Bills. The smallest thing was that if land was transferred, it might be with conditions. Maybe a condition would be that a playground would have to be built as well. Small things such as that were being taken away. I am really concerned that with the planning Bill, we will see this and an alienation from people. We talked about the town teams but we do not want a dynamic where we talk to the person who has an in with Government and start bypassing the idea of us making decisions collectively. Funding the town council is key. We must make sure we keep those powers of insight at planning level in terms of not just the development plan but that it is considered when decisions are being made. What we saw that in South Dublin County Council where it made a really wise decision to ban data centres. The overturning of that decision sent an incredibly poor message to the public who had elected those councillors. That is an example of seeing central government overriding in that regard.

Participative budgeting would be wonderful but it cannot just be with the crumbs. We see a budget of €100,000 being debated when the spend of €20 million is going through the council. There needs to be something more.