Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. First, am I correct in saying the original plan was for the initiative to commence in Limerick and Waterford? What has been the take-up in those areas? In a way, they were a sample of what the scheme would generate in time to come.

Second, we have often had schemes like this in the past and sometimes they did not really take off. My main concern in those four cities is to ensure there is a dedicated person who understands the system in the relevant local authority. It is all well and good to refer to the website, but what will happen is that when one rings the finance department in a council, on the basis that it is a finance matter, the finance department will say it is a planning matter, the planning people will say it is a zoning matter and so on. The caller will have to go through many rigours, and will then be told he or she requires advance approval from the Revenue Commissioners. Is there is a single one-stop shop? The website is fine, but I have previously found that although such schemes are devised by the Department, nobody takes personal ownership of them at director of services level - as these issues can cross different directorships - and sometimes they fail on that basis. Why did it take until Tuesday to publish the information?

See this speech in context