James Bannon (Fine Gael)

Community care, tourism promotion and industrial and enterprise functions should be administered locally, as well as the matters mentioned in my amendment. The agriculture committee should be restored to local authorities, as they served rural communities well in the past. New technologies are needed to improve the delivery of services by local authorities. A specific budget should be allocated to councils for their full terms, rather than the current piecemeal approach which means they have to plan for one year at a time. If a council is elected for five years, its budget for the full term should be made known to it so it can provide good local government. Nobody in Ireland would object to paying tax if they knew the tax receipts were to be spent locally. Most of the taxes collected are spent in certain areas of the country and people in rural areas feel they are being neglected and that funds are not being distributed evenly.

The community fund system in Denmark is working very well because people benefit from money directed back into their own communities. They have no objection to paying for a good service, and if proposals are made to enhance that service they will pay even more. Our present taxation regime is crippling people with taxes and they see no real benefits. It vexes them and turns them off.