Dara Murphy (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)

Like colleagues I also welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. I do not think any of us like being in the position of having to put in place charges on the people in our country. We have to look at the reality of where we are and the EU-IMF deal which we inherited from the last Government. A flat charge of €100 on households cannot be argued to be fair but the Minister has been restricted by virtue of the fact that he has to have the charge in place in 2012. I particularly welcome the ambition to make the system fairer in the future. Like some of my colleagues have said, this is the first step in a journey that Minister has started in other areas with respect to the reform of local government in our country.

Like many current and former Members of the House I come from a local authority background and had the pleasure of being chairman of my local authority a couple of years ago. It is fair to say that local government and city and county councils are very restricted by virtue of their dependence on central Government for funding and how they can secure resources. As a people and Government we must have confidence in the great talents of many of our local politicians, as well as those who work for local authorities.

They are generally people of great integrity, ambition and talents

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