Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill and commend Deputy Niall Collins for introducing it. It is very relevant, particularly at a time of increased demand, to the role of the public service in serving the public. In some ways, it also raises the issue of the role of public representatives and, in a broader sense, touches on the role of local government and its possible reform.

I am sure every Member of the House has considerable experience of dealing with local authorities when making representations on behalf of constituents or the public in general on various matters. It can at times be an arduous task and, like most, there have been occasions when I have had to wait not weeks but months to get a simple reply. The maze of offices, positions and titles is astounding. I have had to wait 14 weeks to receive an acknowledgement of receipt of a housing inquiry. Regardless of whether that was down to staff shortages or a lack of interest, it was totally unacceptable. The difficulty with this is that for each one of those representations there is someone who is waiting, often anxiously, or under great pressure or stress, because of the nature of the inquiry, for an answer. We all know of such cases. The Bill would go some way towards having a timeline for such communications. Local residents and communities would have some notion of when they could expect a reply and in many instances a reply, even in the negative, is enough to progress the issue. It is certainly better than no reply and can often steer people in an alternative direction where they might pursue their issue.

Implementation of this Bill would, at least in theoretical terms, make a big difference to the public service element of local authorities. I have no doubt that an improved responsiveness would lead to increased engagement and participation by the general public. A similar initiative for other Departments could be considered. In practical terms, one wonders about the current capacity of local authorities to deliver on the outworking of the Bill.

As a former county councillor, I am aware that in Cork there has been a considerable reduction in staff and funding for the local authority. Resources are at a premium and this is not helped by the recruitment embargo, a situation which I am sure will worsen in the next month or so as retirement incentives are availed of. There is a danger that this legislation will be impossible to implement. There is without doubt a need to have a serious look at the role local authorities play in general, how they are structured and funded, the services they deliver and the way they deliver them.

Sinn Féin has called for a major transformation of local government to include increased councillors' powers, appropriate local control over the provision of services and greater local control over budgets and financing of local government. This would include the ability to collect tax revenue. We have called for the restoration or introduction of councillors' prior powers over planning, housing, transportation and waste management and to correspondingly limit managers' powers as well as reform of local government structures to make it more accountable. This should include direct election of chairpersons and mayors, who would assume many aspects of the council management oversight role.

The public has a right to local government that is representative and responsive. The Bill would go some way to addressing that issue, but it is essential that we have some sort of real debate and movement on the issue of local government reform. The Government has promised a new way of doing politics. The programme for Government contains specific commitments to local government reform. It states:

We are committed to a fundamental reorganisation of local governance structures to allow for devolution of much greater decision-making to local people. We will give local communities more control over transport and traffic, economic development educational infrastructure and local responses to crime and local health care needs.

It remains to be seen just how committed the Government is to this issue. It would surely be welcome, again in terms of participation and engagement, if significant progress could be made in this regard. This, in conjunction with adequate investment and the kind of protocols and policies as exampled in the Bill before the House today, could have a real and meaningful bearing on how we conduct government in Ireland in the future.

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