Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry; I thought he wanted to address me now.

There are very few powers in that regard. Other than housing, what are the other big issues of the day? They are health and policing. The mayor has no powers with regard to health. Any local authority input in health has been removed. There is now a realisation that the removal of the health boards may have been a bad idea and it is going back towards some kind of regional boards. How that will work and, most importantly, who they will be accountable to has yet to be determined. With regard to policing, the new mayor has no policing powers. In fact, the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023 passed by this House and now before the Upper House even removes the joint policing committees. Instead of extending power to local government and local government representatives, there is a continuing erosion of that power and a continuing inability for local government representatives to hold the executive to account. As I say, that is damaging and is an erosion of democracy because housing is the major issue of the day in local government in Limerick, as it is in many areas. I know Limerick well. I am from east Clare. Limerick was where we went on Saturday mornings into Star Discs on Patrick Street. I have seen how badly served Limerick has been by its own local government and others over the years - more than any other city or place I know. You can compare it to counties Clare and Galway or north Tipperary. Look at the destruction of the medieval city of Limerick that you drive through coming from Clare through Athlunkard. Look at what they have done, or rather what they have not done, with Nicholas Street. They have built a highway through medieval Limerick instead of pedestrianising it. Now they are pedestrianising Georgian Limerick, which is built to accommodate traffic. It seems nonsensical to me but maybe they know better.

With regard to housing, there are no revenue raising powers or even the ability to propose revenue raising powers in this. That is the essence of democracy. I have taken responsibility for decisions I have made, as has the Minister of State, and I have been kicked out. That is the great thing about being governed by elected representatives. You can kick them out if you want. I have been kicked out and I am sure I will be again. However, you cannot get rid of civil servants. I have to say there is no discernible difference in policies between this Government and the last Government. There is no discernible difference in policies before and after 2019 in County Clare, because the power remains exactly the same. It resides with the county manager. That is a problem, and it is causing people to be rightly cynical about it. I know €9 million is being given under the urban regeneration and development fund, URDF, to tackle dereliction in Limerick. I welcome that. However, there is huge potential in Limerick to house people in existing housing stock, as there is in many cities and large towns right across County Clare. The living cities initiative was developed and I tabled a parliamentary question about it. The amount of money claimed was paltry in all areas. In Limerick I think there were just 54 applications in total. There was no breakdown in the amount of moneys given out. It clearly had little impact. I am not convinced that €9 million is going to make the difference required in Limerick. I appreciate Limerick City and County Council. I do not want to be churlish about the work civil servants do. They do lots of good work. However, they do not have a mandate to determine policy. That rests with the people who are elected. Their mandate is to implement policy. To the extent that there has been a huge sea change in Limerick, I welcome that. I am not suggesting that the unelected parts of Limerick City and County Council or of Clare County Council do not do many good things. This is the case in particular around the use of the Derelict Sites Act. That is to be commended in Limerick and it needs to be commended. Even that requires huge amounts of money. If we were to be really serious about it and really develop it, there has to be a power to raise revenue.

I welcome that this Bill has finally come about. I note that Deputy Leddin among others has consistently called for it. However, I hope the Minister will take an open approach on Committee Stage, and not be blinkered by what the Custom House and the unelected powers in this State want.

Everybody wants power. That is the nature of government. There is always this ongoing tension between elected and unelected representatives. However, the people can get rid of only the elected ones and they deserve to be governed by the elected ones that they can get rid of if they do not like them. If we continue with a system where we cannot get rid of policies or attitudes we do not like, we end up with democratic transition not really being a possibility and then we have to prepare for the worst. I would hope that when this goes to Committee Stage, the Government will approach it with an open mind. I have to agree with Deputy Ring about making sure that local authorities are answerable to the Comptroller and Auditor General.

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