Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)

The specific question I am asking here is about town councils. As a former town councillor, I have an interest in this. My concern is that the town council of a town such as Mullingar - with which the Minister's colleague, Deputy Penrose, will be familiar - which has a population of 25,000, has town commission status and no rating powers, and the greater Portlaoise area has a population of 18,000; yet a town such as Templemore, with a population of 2,700 or 2,800, has a rating authority. I ask the Minister to consider this in the context of local government reform.

In addition, if the Minister intends to do away with quangos, particularly at local level, I ask him to investigate possible fits between their roles and those of town councils. Is it part of his thinking that the roles of such quangos will be brought under the remit of town councils? Town councils are democratically elected and they could be used to administer some of those programmes. Is it the Minister's intention to enhance the powers of town councils specifically? I heard him say that he intends to devolve more powers to local authorities. In a general way, I welcome that, as would my party. However, my specific question is whether the Minister intends to improve the powers and functions of town councils, particularly former town commissions.

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