Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Local Government Bill 2018. As the Minister of State knows, it has taken some time to get here. There have been a number of attempts and various iterations. I welcome that the legislation providing for the expansion of the Cork city boundary is now before the House. I was probably in a minority in that I was open to the idea of a single authority in Cork, with a strong city at its core. However, that is history. The decision has been made. We will have two authorities, with the population of a greatly expanded Cork city increasing from approximately 125,000 to over 200,000. A city, of course, needs scale. In European terms Cork city, even with the revised boundary and the increased population, will still be a small city. In the context of investment and Cork having its rightful place on the European map as a significant city, it is important that it has an enlarged and growing population. Under the Government's Project Ireland 2040 plan, the intention is that over the coming two decades or so the population of Cork city will increase to between 320,000 and 360,000. That is, by any measure, quite a dramatic planned expansion of the city.

I commend the Fianna Fáil spokesperson, Deputy Cassells, on his work in respect of this issue. He engaged with different groups and stakeholders, and took on board the points they made. As Deputies, we have been approached by people from both local authorities in Cork - the city council and the county council. It is fair to say that while there is disagreement on certain issues, there is also considerable common ground. One of the key themes to emerge from those submissions and the meetings we have had is the need for certainty. The reality is that we are about to enter a new era in local government in Cork and both local authorities need certainty regarding funding for a decade and beyond.

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The Minister of State will be aware of the points that have been made by the county council and its concern that the first review can happen in under three years. The longer review is scheduled to occur not later than ten years. It is concerned it will happen in much shorter timeframes. It is possible given the wording in the Bill. From a city council perspective, it wants to have certainty too. It has a different interpretation on some of the issues. It is not our function to take sides. The determining factor in making the decisions needs to be what is best for the citizens of Cork. For me it is all about the quality of service provided. I am a Deputy who represents both the city and county. That will continue to be the case because the town where I live, Carrigaline, and where I am from originally, Passage West, will remain within Cork county but other parts of the constituency in the county will transfer to the city. The greater Douglas area, for example, has been, for all intents and purposes, part of the city for a long number of years. It is reasonable that areas contiguous to the existing city boundary, into which the city has essentially expanded, would form part of Cork city. What is proposed goes much further than that but that is to allow the city council to plan over the medium to long term. That is also an important issue.

As we move forward in the next decade or so, the Government will have to really focus on the issue of regional development. Cork is the ideal counterweight to Dublin. Cork needs to be prioritised by way of investment. It is the second largest city in the State. It is the obvious place within which to continue to invest, particularly in the city centre. The docklands area is one of the most exciting brownfield sites with enormous potential for regeneration in our country. I hope it will receive the recognition it deserves and that Cork will secure significant funding under the urban and rural regeneration fund. I understand the first decisions are to be announced in respect of those funds quite shortly.

What really concerns people about local government is the quality of the services provided. Councils in Cork and right around the country need to prioritise basic services such as cleaning drains, footpath and road repair work, cutting verges and doing all the essential work that can have a real impact on people's quality of life if it is not done. It is obviously important for councils to have a wide remit to be involved in economic development and arts and culture and so forth but the focus has to be on the core services they provide. I would like to see the area offices and road crews who perform those essential functions get more funding and be given more priority by each local authority because they do the bread-and-butter work which keeps the show on the road at a very local level. It is important.

It is crucial under this new local government configuration in Cork that there is a joint approach adopted by the two local authorities on the key strategic issues and challenges facing the city and county. When it comes to planning, for example, there has to be co-ordination. When it comes to promoting Cork domestically and abroad, we want the two authorities to speak with one voice. We need a co-ordinated combined approach by the two councils in respect of the key strategic challenges we face.

We need to have a date for the transition period and when all of this will be concluded. I will go back to the point I made at the beginning about certainty. We need to have a date by which we know all this will be done so there will be no lack of clarity and no confusion about who citizens are to contact for the provision of the basic services I spoke about earlier. We have local elections coming up next May which present an immediate challenge in that respect.

While we are on the issue of local government, the decision to abolish the town councils needs to be revisited. I cut my teeth politically on a town council. It was a former town commission in Passage West. It is certainly true to say it had very few powers but it had the power of suasion. It forced senior local authority members and managers to come to the town every month to sit around the table and be held accountable and for us to seek an update the following month in respect of questions we put. That level of accountability has now been removed because the areas that have lost town councils are now part of much larger municipal districts and in some cases those small towns may not even have a councillor on the municipal district. Local democracy has been greatly diminished by the abolition of town councils. I ask the Minister of State and the Government for whatever period of time is left in the Dáil to move that issue forward. We need more democracy, not less. We need local government as close as possible to the citizens it is designed to serve. It was a terrible mistake and it is not too late to rectify it. Much damage has been done but I can testify having spent eight years on a town council to the value of the work that is done there. Where I served had very little power because it was not an urban district council, it was a town commission. It had very little by way of financial resources but it was really important for the people it served. The local citizens knew who to go to. They had plenty of local town councillors who were a very effective conduit between the citizen and the county council. That needs to be revisited and reinstated.

I will leave it at that. I welcome the Bill. I am glad this issue is moving on. I ask the Minister of State to study very carefully the issues raised by both councils in Cork. They are very legitimate issues. There is much common ground. There is some difference of opinion and interpretation. The Minister of State should let his guiding light be what is best for the citizens and what will deliver the best quality services to the people of Cork city and county into the future. That is my primary concern as we finalise these new arrangements.

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