John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

The general function of regional authorities is to review the overall needs and development requirements of their respective regions and facilitate communication and co-operation between local authorities and other public authorities with regard to policies and services being delivered by these bodies. The role of regional authorities under the Planning and Development Act 2000 in drawing up regional planning guidelines as an overall co-ordinating framework for all city and county development plans is of particular importance in pursuing sustainable development.

The Green Paper on local government, Stronger Local Democracy - Options for Change, which I published in April 2008, raised the question as to whether change in local government arrangements was necessary in key locations to drive regional development. Stronger Local Democracy noted that part of the challenge was to ensure local government would be capable of developing and facilitating the development of the gateways as envisaged by the national spatial strategy. The renewed programme for Government is relevant to this question, as it commits to the provision of democratic leadership for regional authorities and the strengthening of their strategic role across a range of functions, in addition to their realignment to reflect the gateways in the national spatial strategy. The White Paper on local government which I will bring to the Government shortly will reflect the programme's commitments.

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