Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Minister that funding is not a barrier and that there is need for more urgency and initiative on the part of local authorities. The Minister will be aware that when a local authority is asked why a particular initiative is not being implemented, the response is usually that the Department has not approved a particular part of it and that the Department when asked the same question will respond to the effect that the local authority has not moved on it. Is the timescale for these projects five years? Perhaps the Minister will clarify when he expects these projects to be completed. Leaving aside that we need initiative on the part of the local authorities, we need to ensure that this type of passing the buck between the Department and the local authorities stops. A site in my constituency, which I drive pass almost every day, which was supposed to be developed and inhabited in the middle of last year, is still full of weeds. When one asks the council why that project has not commenced, the response is that the Department is holding it up.

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