John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

If one wants to put it in those terms, I looked at what McCarthy had done and I felt it was necessary to carry out an efficiency review of the local government sector. Deputy Tuffy will have seen the recent reports about the failure to collect commercial water rates. It is absolutely essential that we get the full value for the €11 billion, current and capital, spent annually by local authorities. That must be viewed against the requirement to manage and control overall public spending, having regard to the need to restore balance in the public finances. While much has been achieved to date such as the new costing system, shared services, modern financial management system, audit committees and performance indicators, more must be done. The focus will be on current spending by local authorities. The group will address capital expenditure issues to the extent of their impact on current expenditure. I met with the group, whose work is ongoing. It is absolutely vital we deal with this issue because we have had local authorities spending money in the good times but we are no longer in the good times and we have to tighten our belt, not just at central level but at local level as well.

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