Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In terms of local government legislation this is a substantial Bill. I thank the Minister and the officials for their work in preparing it. There are many areas on which we disagree. At the same time I note the Minister has given a commitment to bring forward some amendments on Committee Stage in the Seanad. They will be welcome because we should always seek to improve on what we have.

Many of us hoped there would be substantial reform following the 2000 legislation but there was very little. It was substantial legislation but it did not lead to any kind of significant devolution, in fact there were further restrictions in terms of the powers and functions of local government in the following years. Since then many of us have lobbied for changes and more devolution. I am a firm advocate of devolving as much power as practicable as close as possible to the people, and I represent a party which advocates this. That is one of the things which is missing.

This State has become even more centralised since Independence. Those in political parties to whom I have spoken over the years - not just councillors but Deputies also - have said it is overly-centralised. Some of the things we see micro-managed are crazy. No system can operate effectively in such circumstances. I gave an example earlier of bus shelters. Why would one discuss a bus shelter in Ballydehob, Borris-in-Ossory or somewhere with someone in Dublin? Many things need to be devolved down.

One of the positives of the legislation, although I am critical of much of it, is that it has enabling mechanisms. There are commitments in the Putting People First document. I hope the Minister and his successors use that to devolve further powers and functions because that is what we want to see. We want to see real power being devolved down to local councillors who are not just there to rubber-stamp things but who are responsible and accountable to the people they represent. That is real democracy but there is a weakness in this country in that regard.

We often talk about the weakness in civic responsibility. Part of the weakness in civic responsibility is that lack of connection at local level to government. One must connect people locally to local government. Although we would argue it is deficient, we must use this Bill. There are some positives in it - unfortunately, not enough - and we will seek to maximise them over the coming years. Hopefully, when the Bill comes back to the House, it will be improved by the amendments the Minister will bring forward in the Seanad. I thank everybody for their help with the Bill.

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