John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yes, we intend establish them on a statutory footing. The powers they will have will be primarily in the area of forward planning and transport. Currently, such functions are not adequately performed by local authorities. A good example of co-operation, perhaps even the best example in the country, is at Graiguecullen, which straddles the boundary between Carlow and Laois. The authorities there have been co-operating for approximately 50 years and nobody comments much about it. They have agreed that certain functions are performed by the local authority in Carlow in respect of an area that stretches into County Laois. In terms of these joint structures, if the two local authorities agree to give specific additional roles to them, they will be able to do so.

Deputy Murphy O'Mahony spoke about the need for a quick resolution in respect of Cork. She is correct in that regard. That is the primary purpose of this legislation.

Deputy O'Keeffe spoke about the role of councillors. The Deputy served as a councillor for a long period. He said that this is an important role and that councillors had lost functions in recent years. I would point out to the House that Sara Moorhead, SC, is conducting a review not only in respect of councillors' pay and remuneration, on which I expect to have an interim report in the next week or so, but also on the role of councillors. She is also considering additional functions we can give them.

I am a firm believer in what Deputy Connolly spoke about, namely, performing functions at the level closest to the people. She laughed when social welfare was mentioned in that context. In some parts of the world, certain aspects of social welfare are delivered by local government. We should not be constrained by our narrow Victorian system of local government that has only recently been overhauled. Our city , town and county council structure was introduced in 1898 and very little relating to it changed until the past 20 years. There are certain functions we have never performed at local authority level which should be performed at that level. Ms Moorhead's report will be finalised in the spring, before the local elections.

Deputy O'Keeffe reluctantly accepted the findings of the Cork review group.

Deputy Aindrias Moynihan expressed his concerns about Ballincollig and Blarney and said that people locally were surprised about the proposed boundary extension. The best answer in that regard was given by Deputy Kelleher, who referred to the need for the city to plan, expand and develop into the future. He referred to boundary extensions in the past that went 400 yds but, five years later, housing developments have extended beyond that distance. It is probably dangerous to move a boundary once but if we are going to move it, we have to allow for the expansion of the city of Cork into the future.

We want Cork to be the counterbalance to Dublin. It is the only other city in the country that could be accepted and considered to be a city internationally. We want to make it bigger. The population projections for other cities and towns in the national planning framework are also significant but Cork has the capability of being a real counterbalance to Dublin.

Deputy Ó Laoghaire referred to sheriffs and coroners. The laws governing the latter come under the remit of the Department of Justice and Equality. Changes to local government legislation do not automatically mean a knock-on change for coroners and sheriffs. The Department of Justice and Equality is liaising with officials in my Department about possible changes in the future. Our function is to establish the local government boundaries.

As well as speaking about the positive role played by Sinn Féin in this process, Deputy Ó Laoghaire raised the Mackinnon proposals for a wider economic area in Cork. In the next couple of weeks, I will be bringing to the Government a report on metropolitan governance which will encompass the idea of a broader economic area around Cork city which is not just confined to the newly expanded city boundary. Deputy Buckley spoke about the importance of the Cork brand.

Deputy Jan O'Sullivan and others referred to the importance of public information about the changes, particularly in Galway. She also referred to the development of the Cork-Limerick road and the importance of the Waterford to Limerick road which is in the national development plan. There will be an opportunity for much more detailed consideration of directly-elected mayors and there will be a memorandum to the Cabinet about this, hopefully in the not-too-distant future. The memorandum will outline the extent of the powers of directly-elected mayors. I agree with Deputy McGuinness that the most significant redistribution of power at local government level would be from the executive to somebody who would be elected directly. This is not a question of creating a new role as we already have mayors and chief executives. It is a question of balancing those two roles. In the future, the mayor will perform many of the functions which are considered to be the chief executive's at present. There will be an exception in areas such as planning. Due to reports from several tribunals of inquiry, I do not believe it would be appropriate to make that change. There will also be exceptions with human resources and the hiring and firing of staff. I am a supporter of this proposal overall. The ultimate objective is that each local authority would have a directly-elected mayor. It is proper that it should be trialled and functions changed in future incarnations.

Deputy Connolly is not supporting the Bill. She criticised the composition of the 2015 expert group. I was not involved in putting the group together. The Deputy is correct in pointing out that both Galway local authorities are struggling for funding. Deputy Fitzmaurice asked me to meet Galway local authority members. I have no problem with that. I have met most of them individually - many on several occasions - to discuss this issue.

This is a local government Bill which is primarily concerned with Cork. When we get to the amalgamation of Galway city and county councils, if it happens, it will be done by means of separate legislation. This Bill reflects exactly what happened in Tipperary, Limerick and Waterford. The first step is to have an implementation officer - a joint chief executive. Galway is being treated exactly the same as the other three mergers which have gone before. There will be another local government Bill which will deal mainly with Galway.

It is not the case that 99% of the elected local authority members in Galway are opposed to the merger.

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