Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

That plan is not ambitious enough. It has to change. I hear what the Taoiseach said at the start. I would agree to work on a cross-party basis. Let us not make this a fight because we will be stronger when we work on it together. To do that, the Government needs to move too and recognise that some of the suggestions on this side of the House, the sorts of Bills that I mentioned, would restore our direction within months. There would not be huge costs and they could be done. They are not easy. It is complex and difficult, and we will make mistakes, but doing nothing is not an option and what the Taoiseach has on the table is not enough.

I am glad that the Taoiseach is doing that community event tomorrow but I have one question on where we should go. It is about strong local government, trusting communities and allowing them to make decisions for themselves. It should be for every city and town. Will the Taoiseach not trust his own instinct? I have heard him say many times, as did the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, that he believes in directly elected representation and mayors. He has said it clearly. We need to be radical, to think big, put aside some of the fears that the public servants have, be political about this and say that we trust our people in Dublin, Cork, Waterford and Limerick. Just like Clonakilty has been a huge success with its own mayor, why would we deprive every town of the same success?

Will the Taoiseach, in his community event tomorrow, say whether he will trust communities and allow them to get local leadership to make this transition? We will work with the Taoiseach on this new plan in the committee. We will not be easy to work with because we will demand real change. I hope the Taoiseach is open to that because we need to do that. The Taoiseach's plan is not enough. We will make this work. This Dáil has a job to do. Let us stick with it, not pull a quick election, and do the work we have to do. We are the ones to do it.

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