Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to speak to amendment No. 7 which is grouped with amendments Nos. 6 and 8. I wanted to allow the Deputies speaking on the section of the Bill relating to Galway to make their contributions before I spoke to amendment No. 7.

As the Minister mentioned towards the end of his most recent contribution, the amendment proposes the deletion of the reference in the Title to the making of local area plans by committees for certain urban areas. The Minister touched on his intention to come forward with proposals regarding urban area committees. The Minister brought forward the wider proposals on this issue and, indeed, a host of others at the last minute on Committee Stage. I know from the briefings provided by the Minister and his officials that spokespersons of all parties present on that Stage expressed a desire to reform the system and acknowledged that problems exist in certain areas in the impacted counties. The areas in which urban area committees were needed to address deficiencies in planning that had developed over several years, sometimes decades, were identified. Of course, that was also highlighted during the public submissions stage of the county boundary reviews, through which members of the public articulated their frustrations regarding how urban areas had developed, with residential areas sprawling into other counties and the resultant impact on services, accessing services and many other matters.

I am well aware of these issues and the impact thereof due to the development of Drogheda, a major town in the north east which has experienced significant residential urban sprawl from its base in County Louth across the county boundary into east Meath. Many of these proposals were brought forward at the last minute on Committee Stage, at which there was a desire among all members to address the deficiencies in terms of the debate that may have been required to get this right. When the amendments made on Committee Stage filtered down there was kick back from public representatives at local level and officials in terms of how the proposed committees would be constituted, the statutory powers involved in local area plans and how that would impact across county boundaries. We must acknowledge that and work with council executives and councillors to get this right for towns such as Drogheda and the other towns mentioned as suitable for the urban area committees.

Deputy Fitzmaurice earlier quoted Tom Cruise saying, "Show me the money." Money is at the heart of the problem in many of the relevant areas, whether in terms of rates, local property tax and other moneys collected in the areas or the issue of in which county council coffers the moneys will eventually rest. I welcome the Minister of State's comments regarding local government funding and the model for that, as well as the fact that the Government is drawing up new variables in terms of addressing the deficiencies, with which I am very familiar. County Meath is bottom of the list in terms of per capita local authority and central government funding. It is a county of 200,000 people but it is bottom of the list in various funding strands. Many people do not understand the reason for that. If the Government is going to reform the system, I hope the Minister of State will come forward with a different model and address those variables to bridge the gaps which exist within a reasonable timeframe. Last week, I asked the Taoiseach to explain his statement that there will be only modest increases in local property tax and that councils will be able to retain all of the local property tax raised in their areas. One wonders how the Government will square that circle because less well-off counties are being told the deficit that will exist under that model will be met by central government funding. The Government does not have a never-ending pool of money and one wonders from where it will raise the required funds.

Of course, there is a need for us to address the deficiencies which exist in the areas for which urban area committees are proposed. I look forward to positively engaging with the Minister of State to ensure that is done because it is citizens who are losing out. A strategy must be drawn up to deal with these areas. I look forward to positively working with him on this and ask that council executives and elected councillors be consulted to achieve what we all want, which is a better standard of living for citizens in the impacted areas.

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