Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief. We saw one part of the Local Government Bill 2018 a week ago. It is coming in dribs and drabs. I do not fully understand where the Minister of State is going when he talks about the powers that elected or unelected committees will have. What is he using? I would like to go back to Galway. As Deputies will be aware, the first thing that is written about Galway in the document is "show me the money". I do not see where we can keep going forward until the money comes. I thank the Minister of State for his engagement with us. We will be constructive with him. I want to make it clear that as far as I am concerned, the money for the municipal areas and especially the peripheral areas needs to be brought up to the same level as other parts of the country. People are not objecting to what is proposed for Cork. Maybe there are Deputies who have objections. Those involved are working hard. Galway has been in at the back of it. It appears that there are some good ideas in this proposal for local areas like Athlone. We need to thrash it out so that we can know what is in it. The document is coming in quick at us. I know we will get a chance on Committee Stage. We will be constructive at the committee. There is a lot of toing and froing in the case of Galway.

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