Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Last week the 50 integrated local development companies held a briefing for Deputies, an exercise which proved very valuable. I was briefed on Wednesday by Mr. Willie Hamilton, chairman, and Ms Marian Vickers, CEO, of the Northside Partnership - of which I was a director for many years - and Ms Jeanne Deegan, CEO, and Ms Pauline McNamee of the Fingal Leader Partnership. It is fair to say that at the briefing in question there was a palpable fear that the entire ethos of local government which has been built up across the country in the past 25 years may well be swept away by the Minister's proposal to transfer core funding away from the local development companies to the new socioeconomic committees.

As the Minister is aware, the Northside Partnership was one of the first 12 partnership companies in the country. It has a remarkable track record of developing innovative programmes such as the Challenger programme in the area of education. The latter has had a profound impact on north-side communities by assisting young people in remaining in education at second level and in proceeding to third level. The Northside Partnership also pioneered the mediation system that is used to engage with unemployed people and encourage them to enter training and return to work. It has achieved astonishing success in this regard.

The Fingal Leader Partnership, which is led by Ms Deegan and Ms McNamee, also has a remarkable track record. The most recent survey shows that in 2011 it supported 630 people in getting into employment and 255 into positions on labour market programmes. In addition, it gave self-employment support to 299 people, assisted 144 people in becoming self-employed and supported 182 people in moving into further education and training.

We have a track record in this regard. The Acting Chairman, Deputy Terence Flanagan, will recall my using the old adage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," at a public meeting on Monday evening last. That adage really applies in this instance. I have been involved in local development all my life and I campaigned on behalf of Leader and in support of allowing partnership organisations to build on what they were already doing in local parishes and communities.

It would be a pity if this were now to be lost in a morass of bureaucratic dead-hand development. This is the challenge for the Minister because this has happened in the past in local government. I urge him to listen to the local government development network and ensure that direct funding continues.

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