Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on local government. Our councils are some of the most bureaucratic, overstretched and underfunded bodies in the country. They are a shadow of their former selves, with services being cut to the bone to the extent that a council tenant in Kildare with a smoking fuseboard was told on Monday evening that there was no emergency maintenance call-out available after 5 p.m. to assess and repair the damage. This is simply not good enough. What if a fire starts? What if something happens overnight? This must be addressed because it is a serious issue.

We need to empower our councils to ensure they can collect all moneys owed to them. Kildare County Council is owed almost €13 million. We heard Deputies mention this to the Minister of State previously. This money is owed in development levies. It does not include the hundreds and thousands of euro owed in vacant and derelict site levies. That is scandalous.

Kildare County Council is one of the better councils at delivering homes but it is not so good at delivering the necessary infrastructure. Much of this is the Government's fault, particularly around schools. A new secondary school in Monasterevin is due to open in the new few months. We have been waiting 20 years for it. This school will be oversubscribed on the day it opens. Other schools in Newbridge and Kildare town are bursting at the seams and the Government's answer is to move the heart of the Curragh community - its secondary school - to Kildare town instead of expanding it. It is also opening a badly needed new school in Kildare town. The Government is robbing Peter to pay Pauline and Peter and Pauline have had enough. They want to know what is going to happen with Kildare County Council. They know it is time to end the years of mismanagement. There have been successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments and it is time for a change.

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