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

I genuinely believe that this is an important provision. Deputy Murphy's concerns about this provision are, with all due respect, not well founded. If a local authority is getting more money at local level for the provision of services, the people will demand to know where the money is going. They need authorities to be explicit, more than ever, in respect of what services are being funded from and from where. Through the service plan a local authority also has an opportunity to look at the performance of a given service during the course of the year. Councillors will have an opportunity to ensure that officials will be unable to divert money without approval during the course of the year to some other project without the approval of the councillors. This is a vehicle that gives vast scope for the implementation of essential services. It shows where they are funded and it also shows whether they have achieved the objectives set out at the beginning of the year when they are reviewed at the end of year. I simply do not understand where Deputy Murphy is coming from on this issue.

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