Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)

I am pleased to have the opportunity to contribute to the debate and refer, in particular, to local authority issues. The vast majority of local authorities are struggling to keep their heads above water financially and the Government has abdicated its responsibilities in this regard. For instance, Tipperary Town Council faces a shortfall of almost €500,000 in its budget this year. This is a significant amount for a town with a population of only 6,000. The shortfall has been attributed to the failure of a new refuse collection system to generate anticipated revenue. The system failed because many felt the refuse charges were too high. This is typical of the position in which many local authorities find themselves. They are forced to fund their budgets by introducing a host of charges citizens do not want to pay because they are stealth taxes. Such taxes are unjust, unfair and a sneaky way of extracting money from people. However, at the same time the Government claims we are living in a low cost, low tax economy.

The supply of water is another major issue nationwide. We take our water supply for granted, but significant amounts of water are leaking from many local authority systems. The pipes used in a number of systems were laid 40 or 50 years ago and badly need to be replaced. I am inundated, particularly over the summer months, by some of my constituents who need water for animals, for their own domestic use, for bed and breakfast catering, for hospitals or for whatever is needed on a daily basis. There are breakdowns in the peak summer times and the local engineer will always say that the entire system, right across the county, is in bad need of repair. Some 55% of water is leaking into the ground because of a poor system. This cannot continue. The situation has not been addressed by anyone or by the Estimates. The local authority is coming under increasing pressure from year to year.

We need to put the finances of the local authority in place. Only last week I talked to some members of Tipperary County Council who are clearly worried about the great increase they will have to impose if they are not better financed for all the issues that have to be dealt with.

The Minister had a very successful visit in the Tipperary South constituency last Monday.

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