Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 3, between lines 23 and 24, to insert the following subsection:

"(3) The Local Government Acts 1925 to 2007 and Part 4 may be cited together as the Local Government Acts 1925 to 2012.".

As Deputies will be aware, the Government approved proposals to establish single local authorities in Limerick and Tipperary on 28 June and 26 July 2011. In both cases the establishment of interim management arrangements, whereby a single person would oversee both authorities in advance of their full merger, was also approved. The intention is to ensure clear and cohesive leadership of the reorganisation process in both areas in advance of the establishment of unitary authorities by mid-2014.

The existing law on the position of managers is set out in Chapter 2 of Part 14 of the Local Government Act 2001. Section 144(1) of the 2001 Act provides that each county and city shall have a manager who shall be employed by the city or county council in question. The Department's advice is that the provision precludes the same person from being manager of more than one county or city and that amending legislation is required.

As I explained on Second Stage, the principal objective of the change is to enable the same person to be manager of more than one authority. For example, if a person is appointed as dual manager for Limerick county and city councils, he or she would act as manager of and perform functions for the county and the city. The two authorities would remain in existence as separate corporate entities pending their merger in 2014 under separate legislation but the manager would exercise his or her functions in tandem on the two councils.

The amendments provide for a number of changes to the 2001 Act. Amendment No. 15 inserts a new section to amend section 144 of the 2001 Act. The substantive change is contained in new section 13(b), which provides for the grouping of Limerick county and city councils and north and south Tipperary county councils, and for the appointment of one person as manager of those grouped authorities. This section also provides for the insertion of a new subsection (1B) in section 144 of the 2001 Act. In accordance with the new subsection (1B) the manager for a county or city in a group of authorities shall be an employee of whatever authority the Minister shall specify by order.

Section 145(3) of the 2001 Act provides that where a manager has not been appointed by resolution of a council on foot of a recommendation from the Public Appointment Service in the normal way, he or she is automatically appointed after a specified period. Amendment No. 16 amends subsection 3 of the 2001 Act to provide that the subsection applies to a county or city council in a group of authorities, as in the case of Limerick and Tipperary, in addition to individual authorities. A new subsection 3(a) is also inserted at subsection (b), which allows the Minister to appoint by order a person who already holds the office of manager in a city or county that is part of the group of authorities to the office of manager of a group of authorities. Amendment No. 17 inserts a new section 15 in the Bill, which makes a number of amendments in order to integrate the interim dual manager arrangements with the provisions dealing with the appointment of a deputy manager contained in section 148 of the Local Government Act 2001. Section 15(a) substitutes a new paragraph for paragraph 148(1)(a), to provide that in the case of a group of authorities, the manager must consult with the cathaoirleach of each authorities before he or she appoints an employee to be deputy manager.

The amendment to section 15(b) seeks to cover the situation where the manager has become unable to act and no deputy manager has been appointed or if the deputy manager is unable to act. Given the possibility for delay and disagreement in respect of an appointment in such circumstances, it is proposed to give the Minister the power to direct which one of the two cathaoirligh will make the appointment. The amendment at 15(c) inserts a new subsection 3(a) which makes clear that, in respect of a group of authorities, the deputy manager appointed shall be one and the same person.

In addition to the substantive amendments, there are a number of technical amendments. Amendment No. 1 updates the citation for the local government Acts to take account of the changes. Amendment No. 3 makes clear that the provisions to be inserted in section 144 of the Local Government Act 2001 can be commenced as required in accordance with section 1(3) of the Bill. Amendment No. 19 provides for an amendment to the Long Title to the Bill to include a reference to the position of manager, the subject of this group of amendment. These provisions provide the necessary statutory backing for interim dual management arrangements for ongoing implementation work leading to amalgamation of local authorities in Limerick and Tipperary. They form an important early element of an evolving programme of local government reform and development and I commend them to the House.

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