Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I look forward to that. We need to see a more aggressive "dequangoisation" of Ireland. They were left grow out of proportion at every crossroads in the country and they were given made up roles and responsibilities. Those organisations debased the real public servants, who are the people at the coalface whose sole responsibility is to deliver a public service to the customers. When we talk about public services, there is a temptation to forget that the service user is actually a customer. He or she pays for the service by way of taxation or by charge. Much effort has been made over the last few years by local authorities to measure how services are being rolled out across communities, but more can be done to communicate how the services are being rolled out and the effectiveness of them.

My own county of Limerick is a test case for much of what is contained in this Bill in terms of redeployment. The role of Shannon Development and Shannon Airport has been changed. Limerick City Council and Limerick County Council are to be merged, we will see changes within the enterprise boards, the development boards are gone and we will probably see changes in LEADER companies as well.

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