Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

The first question is a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Defence, but we should try to extend it. The military authorities have a say in this, but they allow community involvement at some of their facilities. For example, in this city and at their playing spaces in the Phoenix Park where they have traditionally had space, they give them over for other community uses. Deputy Stagg will help me quickly, but they do the same at the Curragh, where I have been over the years. They do it wherever possible.

Deputy Stanton raised a point about involving the new Irish. The attempt is to look at identifiable gaps in local community structures and local authorities, to try to get local civic participation structures and to try to use the county and city development boards of local authorities to experiment with modes of local democracy and local engagement to get people involved.

See this speech in context