Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

I thank the Deputies for their contributions and I will make a few points that I did not make at the beginning.

Local authorities are generally committed to the delivery of a quality service to the public. Examples in which this is not the case have been given, but the issue is usually one of solving a problem rather than one of a correspondence trail.

I give the highest priority to the devolution of power from central government to local government. In the coming months, I will discuss with the Government and the Oireachtas how this will occur. To give local authorities an opportunity, I will ask them to meet their statutory requirements in terms of public representation and to implement the regulations on customer service charters and action plans in the prescribed manner.

Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan mentioned her concern about the way we are heading in terms of community groups and local government. I value the role of each community group, be its work focusing on enterprise, community development or social support. I want to harness the groups' potential in line with local government so that we might have a synergy of personnel and resources and allow for a more effective delivery of service to citizens. I do not intend to leave the local government system the way it is. Given the times we are in, its service delivery to citizens must be more efficient and effective. Substantial reform in terms of the devolution of powers and responsibility is also necessary.

I am disappointed that the Deputy believed the pilot "Fix Your Street" scheme in south County Dublin was a gimmick. I am pleased to state that more than 1,700 reports were uploaded to the website during the pilot phase. South Dublin County Council's average response time to queries was 1.6 days, less than the deadline of two working days. Thanks to the application of technology to resolving some issues, there has been a creditable performance. Were this process rolled out to every local authority, Deputies would happily agree the system is working better.

While I take on board and am somewhat sympathetic to the issues raised in Deputy Niall Collins's Bill, I wish to deal with these matters in the context of statutory responsibilities. If the regulations are not working, we will gladly revisit these issues in the context of local government reform.

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