Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

The Government is focused on reducing the cost of doing business to support competitiveness and employment in the economy generally and to protect the interests of local communities. It is not concerned solely with the funding of local government, but also that local government delivers the services our communities expect as efficiently and effectively as possible.

The Government's commitment to align the community development sector with local government will also see an expanded role for local authorities in local enterprise and community development. This, in turn, will maximise the impact of investment to produce jobs at local level. My Department will continue to work with the County and City Managers' Association to identify best practices in the local government sector in building stronger sectoral approaches and eliminating variances between local authorities. While these are difficult economic times, Deputies will appreciate that local authorities play, and must continue to play, a central role in delivering services at local level. Local authority capital and current budgets, economic planning and development, and the provision of goods and services, as well as community infrastructure, feed into the communities they serve.

As regards water treatment, last month I published the Water Services (Amendment) Bill 2011, which will introduce a proportionate, risk-based approach for the inspections of septic tanks and other on-site waste water treatment systems. The objective of this legislation, which resulted from a European Court of Justice judgment against Ireland in 2009 that was not acted on by the previous Government, is to protect public health and the environment, and, in particular, drinking water sources.

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