Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am not saying it is not. We have, however, massive problems in our cities and this is why we have gardaí with guns on the streets of north inner city Dublin. These are not security problems; these are social deprivation problems. I am not sure that when one puts the whole county together that the focus on these areas of disadvantage would increase. I believe it would actually decrease.

There is one interesting question that always arises in these amalgamation situations, and which I would love to see on paper before I sign for anything on the dotted line, which is around the status of the mayors or cathaoirligh of the various authorities. Galway was the first to have a quincentennial year and other places such as Waterford and Dublin followed with 800 and 1,000 year commemorations to outdo us. There is a lot of history attached to having a mayor in Galway. What status would the mayor of Galway have in an amalgamated local authority? Would it be equal to the chair of the county or the chair of what would be, effectively, a municipal district? I believe these issues need to be looked at again and we need answers before we sign on the dotted line. Another issue is how the mayors or cathaoirligh would be elected.

I do not go along with the theory that what is good for the city is not good for the country. I do not know if my own party colleagues agree with me but I do not understand the logic that cities need five-year directly elected mayors while the areas where houses are further apart, with bigger gardens and a few fields in between are somehow radically different just because they have more space and more greenery, and that those areas do not need the same sort of structures as the more conglomerated housing arrangements that we call cities. Perhaps 100 years ago the areas were radically different because rural areas did not have water services, footpaths, sewerage systems or street lights, along with a million and one other things. Now in rural areas, and certainly in the small rural towns and villages, there are the same requirements for services as in towns and cities. I could never understand this fixation we have with cities and their status. We think that those who happen to live outside the urban areas are some second-class citizens within their own State.

The Minister of State can sum up what I am saying with this: I have always believed that in the case for Galway we should not buy a pig in a poke. I hope today we can agree that what the Seanad did was right and that we can move on from here. I hope that in the meantime the Minister of State, Deputy Phelan, makes sure that Galway gets adequate finance now and not because there will or will not be a merger of the local authorities but because Galway, by all recognition and all independent studies, is not getting a fair share of the money. This was highlighted by the expert group. It is absolutely incumbent on the Minister of State, Deputy Phelan, without any precondition to provide the necessary money for Galway city and especially County Galway which has been starved of cash. When compared to other cities Galway city does very unfavourably. They should all be funded on an equal basis according to need and an objective formula, which is not the way it is currently shared.

The formula we have is so archaic that it was months before the Department even admitted that there was a formula at all. When I eventually received it, the Department could not explain it. That matter is totally separate from the changes in structure and should be dealt with now. If the Minister of State does not believe me, he should look at his own expert report.

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