Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

I fully concur with Deputy Wallace on the centralised nature of government here. This is not acceptable, which is the reason I am doing something about it. In view of the Deputy's stance on the household charge, I would welcome his proposals on financing local government. Where will we obtain money at local level to contribute to the effective running of local government and the provision of services if we comply with the standards the Deputy has set?

I want to move many of the functions of agencies and sections of Departments to ensure services are delivered as closely as possible to individuals and communities. I have made a start on enterprise functions. My Department and the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation have agreed to devolve the community and enterprise development functions to local authority level. There is a challenge for local authorities to step up to the plate by engaging with people on the ground to ensure we get a good response to rolling out all of these services. However, these services must also be paid for. If one seeks to devolve functions and remove the centralisation of functions, which the Deputy correctly noted is a problem, one must have the wherewithal at local level for funds to be provided to implement these services and give the greatest possible discretion to elected members to implement such services at local level.

See this speech in context