Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank both Deputies for their comments, but they make no sense whatsoever. Deputy Catherine Murphy and Deputy Ruth Coppinger are the two Deputies, among other Deputies, who continually stand up and argue for the need for proper power to be devolved to local authorities, yet they want me, through the Bill before the House, to determine national parking policy. They cannot have it both ways. They cannot say they want power devolved to local authorities to allow them to determine how parking should be implemented in their areas if, the moment they are not happy with what they do, they come into the Dáil and ask me to remove that power from them. That is what they want.

I find it extraordinary that Deputies within the Independent tradition in particular, who I would have thought would be very aware of the powers that local authorities should have, should come to the House and ask that we remove flexibility and power from local authorities and enshrine it in legislation which is not capable of recognising the extraordinary diversity of areas and properties and the various ownership structures of areas within which parking takes place. They cannot have their cake and eat it in respect of this issue. They cannot say that local authorities should be more powerful, yet, in a case in which they are not happy with how they use that power, come in and ask for that power to be removed by amending the legislation.

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