Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)

One of the areas of concern for me is the loss of functions in local authorities. That is an important issue. I will wait to see what are the Minister's plans in that area. There are plans for the Road Safety Authority to take over the issuing of driving licences, there are other issues of monitoring and there are questions over Irish Water and what will be taken out of the hands of local authorities. These are significant issues. Only recently, within Dublin City Council there was a ballot on the different sections that concern water and the outcome was very negative in regard to the Minister's plans. I look forward to seeing and debating the proposals. This goes against the way things should be, namely, that the local authority should handle these issues.

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