Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)

-----in regard to a public meeting that was held in my constituency some days ago. I challenge him to join me in another interview on Limerick's Live 95FM, the Minister's local radio station or Pat Kenny's radio programme. Rather than a one-on-one interview where his claims about me and certain colleagues could go unchallenged, I challenge the Minister to participate in a live debate. I am seeking to represent the people of County Limerick. I do not seek to act irresponsibly, in a hypocritical fashion or to misinform the people I represent. I am not into law breaking. The Minister was out of order in making that charge and I hope he will withdraw it.

My party is fully in favour of a reasonable inspection regime. We want to ensure people have access to clean water in all areas. That is often lost in the debate. Returning to the Bill before us, there is scope for the Office of the Ombudsman to have a role in respect of appeals to findings of the regime for the registration and inspection of septic tanks. Similarly, one could assign a role to the Ombudsman in respect of the household charge. As it is, a person may bring a case to the Ombudsman where, for example, there is a dispute regarding an entitlement to mortgage interest supplement. We have been notified of unfinished housing estates throughout the State which are not included in the county-by-county schedules setting out those developments in respect of which a waiver applies.

The Bill we have brought forward today seeks to broaden the remit of the Ombudsman in respect of existing legislative provisions, including the Water Services (Amendment) Bill and those relating to the household charge. I accept that there are many fine people working in local authorities throughout the State. It is not my intention to cast a plague on everybody's house. However, there is undoubtedly room for improvement in certain areas. The Ombudsman's office must be afforded an opportunity to become more purposeful in that regard. It already deals with complaints from members of the public who have not received due recognition of their communications to local authorities.

I commend this short Bill to the House. It seeks to bring a greater sense of purpose to bear on local authorities in their dealings with the public and to ensure value for money in the services they provide. Maladministration must be rooted out. There is a role for the Croke Park agreement and the Office of the Ombudsman in streamlining local authorities and tackling that maladministration.

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