John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

The Green Paper was published in April 2008. As I said in my reply, circumstances have changed considerably since then. We have had a major economic downturn. That is why we must take into account the report of the Commission onTaxation, the McCarthy report and the renewed programme for Government. The latter refers to regional government and fits in with some of the recommendations of the McCarthy report.

The McCarthy report proposed getting rid of many local authorities. I do not propose to take on board every recommendation of the report. I will examine them and the Government has always said it provides us with a menu. Last week, I established the Limerick local government committee which could provide us with a template. If one believes that strong regions derive from strong cities, then Limerick provides us with an opportunity to test local government models. If we can get it right in Limerick, it will serve as a template for other areas. Denis Brosnan, chair of the mid-west taskforce, has addressed the committee on this matter.

All these issues must be examined when considering the White Paper. A Government committee is doing so and it is going extremely well.

Another issue, of course, is the funding of local government and how this will change radically over the coming years. Once we have looked at the experience of Limerick, I would hope to be in a position to publish it before the summer, perhaps in the middle of May. I want to get it right and I want it to contain the appropriate level of ambition, so that it can be implemented and is practical. In terms of local government, town councils and boundaries of particular areas are matters replete with political sensitivities. That is why we must tread carefully. That is not to say we will not be making tough decisions. We must and we will be making tough decisions in the context of reform of local Government. One does not get reform without making tough decisions. It is not appropriate at this stage to publish this in draft form. I will talk to people about it but I hope to publish the entire document as quickly as possible.

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