Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

There are many ways in which people can be encouraged to become involved. I share the Deputy's views on An Bord Pleanála's oral hearings. The engagement of local authorities is very important but in fairness to them they have moved into regional and local offices and decentralised their staff, and that has helped. The system is far better now than it was ten or 20 years ago when everything was centralised in centrally-located offices. The more local offices the better because residents' groups and civic action groups will be more inclined to engage with people who have a feel for and are working in their own communities and the more that happens, the better. Part of the problem over the years has been that we have handed over far more of our decision making to the expert bodies and expert groups on the basis that they are in a more independent position and it is the politically correct thing to do. Every time we do that, for all its laudable reasons, we are taking away our own involvement. I have raised this many times with colleagues and I have sat around the Cabinet table arguing about that but that is what we continue to do.

The main point is that the more civics education there is in our schools and colleges and the more enticement to people to volunteer to engage in community activities the better it is for society. I agree with the Deputy that where there is undue bureaucracy it militates against people playing an active role. I agree with the point that if one goes through something and one is not being listened to one will not become actively involved. For my own part, not a day goes by when I meet some of the statutory bodies and I ask them to advertise and promote what they do and ask people to give their views. The Internet makes it easier for people to do that. While some do it, others seem to ignore the point. The more we force and encourage people to do that the better and the more interest there will be from our local people.

The figures for involvement and participation here are not bad but they could be far better. Various community development plans are contained in the agreed programme for Government for which we have provided extra resources for the next five years. Some €300 million has been spent by the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs directly on community activities. Given that much funding has been provided it is a matter of trying to co-ordinate the funds into organisations. I hope the active citizenship office and the work and commissions it has done can help to drive that forward.

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