Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The document on local government which I published some time ago will position local government with the overall responsibility - not the dead hand as referred to by Deputy Broughan. Perhaps he had a bad experience with local authorities . The powers we envisage giving local authorities and the level of accountability we expect of them means we will not see any dead hand flourishing in the local government structure of the future. I want to see the same happening on the community side. Local authorities will have a central role in the oversight and planning of local and community development programming. We will have a democratic input for the first time on decisions on how money is expended in our community. The alignment steering group recommended clearly that the bottom-up approach should be embedded as an integral part of this planning and decision-making. I support that view.

I met the Irish Local Development Network in recent days to discuss the issues in advance of its lobbying session with Oireachtas Members. We agreed eight out of nine items on the agenda so we have made a lot of progress even at that meeting. We have agreed to meet again at the end of February. Unnecessary fears or misunderstanding may be about which are sometimes motivated by others. I want to assure the Deputies that I will be taking a proactive approach to ensure we have a good partnership between local government and the community.

Our approach has the support of the European Commission, contrary to what the Deputy may have been told. The Irish model of a community-led approach is unique. We are the only country in the European Union to have this approach so it is bound to be unique. The European Court of Auditors did not single us out for any special mention, contrary to what Deputy McNamara may have been told. Ours is the only model of the private company approach. Other European countries have a structure in place which is a partnership between local government and the community.

I inform Deputy Broughan that we do not know what money we will have in the next round because the European budget has not been agreed yet. It is hoped this will be disclosed in the next few weeks. We will know then what will be the level of funding. All the indications are that it will be lower. I assure Deputy Broughan that any moneys for this new structure will be ring-fenced for community-led development, whether in rural or urban areas. The community-led approach is alive and well. It will continue to be alive and well but there will be a democratic input into any new programmes from 2014 to 2020.

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