Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I met the team from Dublin City Council last week, along with all Dublin Deputies, and I met with the finance subcommittee. Many good councillors from across parties want to see more done for their county with more resources. I welcome the Minister of State's commitment, and I thank the Minister, both Ministers of State and their party colleagues for working with us on this to deliver this review.

The Minister of State mentioned pay, which is another element to this. Dublin City Council has stated that, in the next two years, the additional pay commitments arising out of wage agreements will amount to €41 million. However, the amount of essential Government funding will be €35.8 million of the €41 million. The answer I got from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform stated this is 100% of funding. We need to find the gap and nail it down. I also look forward to Jim Gavan's report on local government funding. We can do a lot more on this. There are local taxes that Dublin City Council and other councils could administer and there are local decisions. The more power we devolve to local government, the better.

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