Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)

The Bill before the House seems to be an issue of national Government concerning itself with the operation rather than the strategic direction of local government functions. The particular issue that has arisen is an anomaly in legislation relating to the co-location project of this Government. It was spotted by my party leader last December and brought before the House. The purpose of the Bill is to prevent a constitutional challenge being brought that would question the standing of the corporate bodies set out in the Bill. Those bodies are the Local Government Computer Services Board, Dublin Transportation Office, Local Government Management Services Board, Affordable Homes Partnership, Irish Water Safety, Limerick Northside Regeneration Agency and Limerick Southside Regeneration Agency.

There is more to it than that and there are matters that have to be brought before the House today. When the Minister of State spoke in the Seanad some weeks ago and today in the House he laid out once more the rationale for the Bill. He said:

The Bill is a short document but nevertheless important. ...it is considered that the Minister should have authority to establish bodies to provide services to local authorities where there is a specific purpose and it would be more practical and economical to provide the service by a single body rather than each of the 34 major authorities acting separately at much greater cost.

While that lays out the rationale to some extent it raises further questions. As a new TD, one of the difficulties I encounter on a regular basis is when I table parliamentary questions to the Minister's office, the Minister does not respond to same but says it is a matter for the EPA or the NRA. If I table questions in regard to the Affordable Homes Partnership, the Local Government Management Services board or any of the agencies listed will I get the same response? Are we creating a legislative process that will further remove the functions of these agencies not only from local government but from national Government in terms of accountability?

There is much debate here about the need for joined-up thinking. Given that housing estates, roadwork programmes and waterwork programmes all run separately while concurrent development is taking place, are we creating a further fragmentation here today? Perhaps the Minister of State would clarify that issue because this is a fundamental function of the operation of these bodies.

Cost factors must also be looked at since a number of these bodies have grown exponentially since their creation. For example, the Local Government Management Services Board was established in 1999 and employed 19 staff at an annual cost to the Exchequer of €1.9 million. When last checked, the board had 30 staff at an annual cost of almost €10 million. In 1999 the Local Government Computer Services Board employed 93 staff at an annual cost to the Exchequer of €5.8 million. When last examined in 2007 it employed 96 staff at an annual cost of €15 million. Are we creating these agencies to assist local government in the delivery of functions such as affordable housing or creating alternative structures which are competing with local authorities?

I wish to refer to the context in which these agencies will work in the future. A local government reform project is under way — the Government made a commitment that it would be delivered within the first six months of coming into office, which was December 2007, but it still has to come before the House. There is an issue as to how these agencies will operate under the local government reform process. Reform in itself is not actually an outcome, the HSE is a case in point where further bureaucracy and further administrational tiers were be put in place. This is another question that must be looked at in terms of the Bill.

If we are to believe that local government operates on the basis that its end product is to create better services for local groups and bodies we need to look at the operation of these agencies and corporate bodies in terms of this goal and how they assist in the achievement and betterment of local services.

Earlier I mentioned the EPA, which last year was given legislative powers to take action against local authorities. Last week the EPA gave its report on water levels and water quality services across the country. Some 34 different water services in County Cork, my area, failed the test, showing cryptosporidium, aluminium and many other substances in the water. The HSE has suggested there may be health and safety issues with these water systems. On the last occasion the Minister took Question Time, there were reports on housing inspections and housing standards. A whole raft of funding and legislation has been put in place. When we look at how the local authorities are carrying out this function, we find that at one end of the country no inspection is taking place. Some local authorities have conducted just one inspection and while others have carried out inspections, they have not taken legal action. This creates the broader context in which the Bill needs to be considered. How does it ultimately improve the operation of day-to-day local government practices and delivery of services?

We are in a position where legislation is crisis-driven to fix an anomaly that arose from the Government's speed and haste in introducing the co-location model. It was found that statutory structures were questionable under the Constitution and certainly questionable in regard to how they were set up.

As Deputy Hogan indicated earlier, this is a matter of primary or secondary legislation and the issue of retrospection needs further examination. In essence, it is hybrid legislation and certainly needs to be further examined and, possibly, amended particularly in terms of how it fits into the long-term plan for local government reform, in terms of accountability to this House and local authorities and how costs are measures and controlled — I indicated earlier that the cost of these agencies has grown exponentially in the short period since their creation — and ultimately in how these agencies lead to the betterment of local government and create a model in which local government reform can take place and allow for the betterment of the local delivery of services.

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