Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

I support Senator Brennan's comments regarding the decision of a number of local authorities to impose a planning condition requiring householders on private estates to establish a management committee, which results in charges of between €5,000 and €6,000 per annum. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is checking whether there is a legal basis for this and local authorities may find themselves liable in this regard.

It was also reported that a local authority is charging a fee of €100 to applicants for social housing even though only a small percentage of them can hope to avail of such housing. Another local authority was taken to court regarding a tenant purchase. People had been failed administratively over a number of decades and not provided with contracts for their tenancies. As a consequence, local government is not functioning as envisaged. Will the Leader arrange for the Minister to come to the House for a debate on the empowerment of local democracy? The corporate policy groups provided for in legislation during the last session have not materialised. It is timely that we should have a debate on the empowerment of local councillors and the strengthening of local government.