John Brassil (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I greatly welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill.

As has been mentioned by previous speakers, when Deputy Howlin admits he made a mistake, which I admire, we should stand up and take note. I had not the opportunity to hear what Deputy Kelly had to say as I had to leave the office but if he has admitted to making a mistake, indeed, it is a monumental and historic occasion for this Chamber. It must give the Minister of State, Deputy Phelan, great satisfaction to sit there and listen to us tearing strips off his former constituency colleague, the former Minister, Mr. Hogan, and all the Minister of State has to do is sit down and agree with us without opening his mouth. It is a good day all round for the Minister of State.

Deputy Cassells has been to the fore in promoting the return of town councils since he was elected to this Dáil and I, along with all my colleagues in Fianna Fáil, very much support his efforts. I very much welcome that the Labour Party, Sinn Féin and the Independents, and I would hope the Minister of State, agree that a mistake has been made, it is time to rectify it and now is the time to do that.

Local decisions are always best made locally. Issues around housing, planning, street maintenance etc. are best dealt with at a local level. One will get much better value for money by letting local democracy return to a local level. For example, since the abolition of the town councils, Tralee and Killarney recently passed town plans and the level of engagement in both of those plans was significantly less than would have been the case, were the town councils doing the work. Already, less than a month after they have been passed, significant errors are beginning to show and will now have to be rectified. The reason is because of the lack of engagement from the public. When one has a healthy local democracy with people providing an input and local councillors who know their own area dealing with the issues, one will get far better results.

There are improvements that can be made to the town council structure. There are lessons that can be learned.

I hope the Minister of State, having the full support of the House, will consider reinstating town councils, particularly in towns with larger populations, and reintroduce local democracy where better decisions can be made. I will not repeat what my colleagues said, but local democracy is best dealt with locally.

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