Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)

Of course it is. We are moving one step forward and two back. We have seen U-turns on most of the proposals of the previous Minister for the Environment and Local Government. We have passed legislation after legislation to change what Deputy Dempsey did as Minister. He wanted to have directly elected mayors. That proposal has been discarded. There were huge changes to his planning measures. I am disappointed because I am in favour of local government reform.

While there should be a local and a national system I am disappointed at the narrowness of the Bill because the Minister could have broadened it. There is no point in his broadening it out in his contribution if appropriate provisions are not contained in the Bill. He is telling all Oireachtas Members he will do this but the Bill does not provide for it.

I have been a member of a local authority for many years and I see problems with the dual mandate. It involves a huge workload. Part of the workload arises from Better Local Government. There are meetings and more meetings, all of which clog up the system, and none of them does one damn bit of business. That is the reality. Business is done only at the annual meeting, the roads meeting or at full meetings of councils. The Minister does not have his head in the sand and must be aware of this from listening to councillors.

I am disappointed with the Bill. I hope the Minister will table an amendment to section 3, which provides for the guidelines, and strengthen the provision for Oireachtas Members to ask questions and get answers from county managers.