Michael Kitt (Fianna Fail)

——the €2.94 billion in funding that was provided last year. The local government fund allocation for 2006 was €874.5 million. There was also an increase in the road grant for 2006, with a €24 million increase in County Galway alone and a 7% increase for Ballinasloe Town Council. Today, the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs announced an extra €6 million for non-national roads in the CLÁR programme areas, with almost €500,000 for Galway. Spending has been increased in the past few years and I am glad to see that.

Local government has a very important effect on local communities. There are substantial resources given to local authorities to improve local communities. We are all familiar with the traditional role of the local authority, which was to build roads and houses, to keep the streets clean and to provide public lighting. However, the authorities are involved in many other areas now, especially in local government reform and in programmes of local government renewal. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has been very pro-active in promoting that within each local authority.

We often take local authority services for granted. It is only when the street lights are not working or when the water runs dry that we know there are problems. In Galway, we are trying to get water supplies from good local authority sources, as well as providing water for group water schemes. The quality of service is improving.

Senator Dardis pointed out that county managers are now meeting with Oireachtas Members, which is a very positive initiative. When meeting with a county manager, my experience has been to look at issues that are causing problems. Planning is still a problem. Some local authorities have prior notice of preplanning meetings and some are better than others. I have always thought that prior notice was a good way for Members to get information, although others have different views.

Affordable housing should be promoted to a much greater extent. In County Galway, there is a designated team to help those who apply for affordable housing. Another initiative that deserves more recognition is the improvement in lieu of housing scheme, which allows mainly younger people to have repairs carried out to their house. Most of the schemes are for the elderly or for those with disability and are delivered either through the health board or through the local authority.

There is a problem with housing estates not being finished and we have stressed this with our manager. Another related issue is when amenity areas are not provided. Estates are being built and there is increased funding for schools, child care units and shopping areas, but the amenity areas are often forgotten. Senator Feighan spoke about levies and some of the funds from these levies should be provided towards the community sports field. We need to have such facilities provided close to where we are living. For example, I have been working closely with a soccer club for the last few months, trying to get a particular sports field for them. The people who ran the club finally decided to use their own field, but they will not get planning permission to develop a stand or lighting because it is a bit too far from the town. Developers have a role to play in the development of such amenities and I would like to see local authorities being more pro-active as well.

I support the second part of the motion regarding the provision of water services investment programmes. A total of €68 million has been provided to County Galway for schemes to start in 2006, while €256 million will be provided next year. The Minister should look at the issue surrounding small sewerage schemes. Senator Feighan made a point on bundling and it is a good idea to have schemes bundled together. The Minister has undertaken a new initiative, where schemes under €5 million can be started without reference to the Department.

However, if the schemes are bundled together, they can go over that amount. Those involved in water schemes have been asking me if they could get out of the bundle and go back to stand-alone schemes that would cost less than €5 million. Some of the bundled schemes have gone so far that it will be difficult to go back and start again as a stand-alone scheme. Can the Minister address that problem? While I welcome what he did for schemes that cost less than €5 million, this initiative has caused a particular problem.