Liam Twomey (Wexford, Independent)

It will come as a surprise to the constituents of County Wexford that the local authority has been well funded over the past seven years. With average increases of 17%, one would expect a corresponding increase in services. It is also surprising to read the figures produced by the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gallagher, on the number of roads which are supposed to have been improved since 1996. It seems that 32,000 kilometres of road have been dramatically improved since 1996, compared with 47,000 which are in poor condition. The condition of the roads in County Wexford have not improved dramatically over the past seven years.

It is stated that local authorities will be able to spend the increased extra funding on whatever they wish, including sewerage systems and social housing. We have not seen any extra funding in County Wexford. I am glad the Minister of State at the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Browne, is here because he has been a strong critic of the local authority on a number of occasions. He might be in a position to enlighten me in that regard.

How will the money be spent on non-national roads? Last year the finance committee had a discussion on the fact that our roads seem to be in regular need of repair. We discussed how we could repair them because drainage was an issue after the flooding we had last year. Many of the local authorities pointed out that they only get enough funding to patch up the non-national roads and that they do not have enough money to carry out drainage works or to lay proper road surfaces. That seems to contradict much of what the Minister said in his speech about the fact that many roads have dramatically improved. They are only being patched up on a regular basis.

Motorists might accept the supposed increase in spending by the local authority if they got improved local authority services. However, no one could say that services have dramatically improved. Nothing is happening in Rosslare Harbour, for example, which is ideal for industrial development, because there is no sewage treatment plant for that area. Raw effluent is still being pumped into the sea. Although there are plans to build a new sewage treatment plant in the area, nothing has happened. It will be interesting to show these figures to my constituents and to tell them that such extra work could have been done over the past seven years because extra funding was supposed to have been given to the local authority.

Perhaps it is time to look at how the local authorities are spending the money. Is there a problem in all Departments in that money is being wasted or not being used correctly? Is there a lack of transparency in terms of how the money is spent? Are Departments top heavy with management? The Department of Health and Children is regularly accused of being top heavy with management. It has also been stated that there is too much administration in the Department and that not enough work is being done at the frontline. If the 1996 and 2003 figures are to be believed, it is time to examine how the local authorities spend this money. It is one thing to give extra funding to local government, but it is another thing to spend it without any form of accountability. I have not seen a dramatic improvement in local government services, whether non-national roads, social housing or water and sewerage systems. I will be interested to hear the Minister's explanations.

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