Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

I have provided unprecedented resources to local authorities to enhance the services that local government delivers to local communities. Since the last local election support from the local government fund to local authorities has increased by 83%. Local government must provide value for money and be open and transparent. That is why I recently introduced 42 new performance indicators for local authorities. The public will see how their local authority is performing — what is working and why and what is not working. The 42 indicators span the full range of local authority services and include percentage and tonnage of household waste recycled, average time taken to get a pre-planning consultation, levels of housing vacancies, the average number of opening hours in public libraries and so on.

No other sector has gone so far in adopting a sector-wide approach to these services.

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