Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy Catherine Murphy for raising this matter. I reply on behalf of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government but I am conscious that the reply does not address the precise points raised by the Deputy. It is more general in scope but I assure Deputy Murphy that the complaints she makes are not unique to herself as a Member of the House. Irrespective of whether Members hold executive office, the difficulties to which she refers have been encountered with some local authorities, though others have established a high standard in the way they deal with the matter.

I am not in a position to comment further on that but the points the Deputy makes are highly relevant. I will transmit her views to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Roche. A review of the matter is under way in the Department, conducted at an official level, the findings of which will be studied by him with a view to considering what improvements can be made to regulations which he introduced.

The Local Government Act 2003 provided for a single local authority mandate. Concerns were expressed at that time about the continuing role of Members of the Oireachtas in respect of the various local authority activities, with the abolition of the dual mandate. When the single mandate for local government was introduced, arrangements were put in place to provide Oireachtas Members with a right in law to access documentation and information and to communication generally with local authorities.

Regulations, which came into operation on 1 August 2003, apply to local authority dealings with Members of the Oireachtas. As part of these arrangements, local authorities are required as a matter of course to supply or make available free of charge a range of documentation to Oireachtas Members who register their interest in receiving such information with the local authority. The range of information to be made available includes agendas, notices and minutes of local authority meetings, including committee meetings if so requested, the corporate plan, the local authority budget, draft and actual development plans, development contribution schemes, weekly lists of planning applications and decisions, draft and final by-laws and annual reports.

Most important, a local authority, in dealing with correspondence from a Member of the Oireachtas, is required to operate to equivalent systems, procedures and timeframes as apply for county, city or town councillors. Members of the Oireachtas may attend a meeting of a local authority or of its committees. In addition, managers are required to meet at least annually with local Oireachtas Members and thus provide an opportunity for an update on developments, and for any difficulties encountered to be raised and addressed. I do not have the regulations to hand but if Members are free to attend meetings by virtue of the regulations they must have access to council property and rooms, to answer one of the Deputy's specific questions.

The above is, of course, additional to normal and regular contacts between public representatives and local authority officials regarding particular problems or issues. Above all, it is an objective of local authorities to deal as expeditiously as possible with requests for access to information from Oireachtas Members. The Minister expects local authorities to facilitate parliamentary representatives, in the spirit and the letter of the regulations, in the timely provision of local authority documentation.

Officials at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government have just completed a review of the practical operation of these arrangements at local authority level. The Minister will study the findings with a view to issuing supplementary guidance to local authorities if required.

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