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

Amendments Nos. 1, 10, 11, 12, and 15 relate to discussions we held on Committee Stage. I assure Deputy Cowen and others I do not decide what amendments are included or not. I hope they appreciate that it is a matter for others to make those decisions.

The amendments we are discussing are similar to those they discussed on Committee Stage. During that debate we considered the word "council" to describe municipal districts, which, as Deputies have rightly said, is more familiar to people and would confer a certain status on a municipal district. I understand why the Deputy raised those points but I am convinced that it would bring confusion rather than clarification to the reform that we propose. For that reason I propose not to use the term "council" despite the corporate status that it would confer on the municipal district entity. I want to make clear that the municipal district system involves substantial reform, not just a replication of the county council area committee system. The defining characteristic of the municipal district is that, unlike the area committee, the elected members for each district will perform functions of the local authority on a devolved basis for the district, thereby increasing subsidiarity and making local government more responsible to local communities. Contrary to what Deputy Catherine Murphy says, 70% of all local representation now is in town councils but they have only 7% of the local government activity. I want to see those areas having more power and responsibility through the municipal district system.

There are 70 reserved functions assigned to the elected members at the municipal district level. Some are no big deal but for the first time there are other substantive ones. Town councils did not have them but the municipal districts will have these particular powers. Districts will have full power to decide on matters at district level, local area plans, by-laws, works on roads, housing and amenities and will be fully engaged in a structured way with the local community. I will insist that they engage with the citizen in a structured way at that level, for the first time. The democratically elected councillor for the municipal district will be able to attend plenary session in the same local authority area to fight the case even further for the needs and resources of a particular district. There is no duplication of public representation, no dual mandate, and I would prefer, as I am sure most people would prefer, to be on a local authority that had meaningful power and responsibility rather than tokenism.

There was a structure in place, for many years the town council, whose powers have been taken away. It started in 1977 with the abolition of rates but that is history. We want the municipal district system to provide a coherent and comprehensive system of governance within each county, to embrace as many areas as possible. It is up to the local authorities in plenary session to devolve more than I am devolving. This is the list of reserved functions we have put into the legislation but if it wants to, the full council can decide that the municipal district can do more. We are giving that flexibility to local authorities, not to put them in a straightjacket in terms of what they do at municipal district level but to see if there are powers more appropriate to the municipal level than the full plenary council level.

This reform programme introduces more power and responsibility and brings it closer to the citizen in an integrated way, not an administrative and bureaucratic way, not for the sake of having a town council in every town over a certain population or, in the case of Granard, with effectively no population. This is the type of change we are trying to make in order to eliminate the structural duplication. The human and other resources will be put to better use to promote the sustainable economic, social and community development of an area. The functions that may be performed by the elected members at various levels of governance are set out in the Bill. Section 21 will insert a new section, 131A, and a new schedule, 14A, in the 2001 Act, the first and second parts of which will deal with the functions that should be performed by members at municipal level or by members of the municipal district or local authority levels.

The allocation function as set out in the Schedule was decided almost entirely on the basis of the recommendations of the working group that I set up between the Association of Municipal Authorities of Ireland and the Association of County and City Councils. They have engaged very constructively in this process. By giving them the opportunity to allow the full plenary session of a council to devolve more in addition to what we have agreed gives some credibility to the notion that I want to devolve as much as I possibly can to the lowest possible level. I am firmly of the same view as the Deputies opposite. There is discretion to do that.

While I am sympathetic to Deputy Catherine Murphy's point about more devolution I have explained what I am doing but I will reconsider the matter for Committee Stage in the Seanad to give a bit more legal impetus to the notion that we have to consult with municipal district level members on the revocation of delegated functions to that level.

If it would make even further progress towards showing my bona fides in regard to these amendments, I am certainly prepared to do that part of it on Committee Stage in the Seanad. However, I am not prepared to use the term "council". There is one council and there will be 31 local authorities, not 114. I do not want to recreate or confer corporate status on an entity like the municipal district just for the sake of it.

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