Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Department of Transport, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, and everybody else are shoving their money to local authorities, and that is good and it is all needed. It is not for this meeting but I can give example after example of local councillors being asked how something happened and whose idea it was when there was a greater need for the money to be spent elsewhere. The local authority members say they do not know and they have no control over it. They say the money came from a Department to the chief executive officer who decided where it would go. That is it. We are undermining the basis of democracy. The most important piece of democracy is local government. It is the closest to the people. We have pulled it asunder in this country. It is a bigger issue but I could not help intervening as Deputy Hourigan was raising these issues. It came to mind.