Joanna Tuffy (Labour)

The relationship between the Seanad and local authorities has changed since the abolition of the dual mandate. Many of us were elected to this House as county councillors, although that changed a few years ago. However, we had a unique link with local government and most of us are still elected by county councillors. I welcome the decision by the Progressive Democrats to table this motion on Private Members' business, as it is an issue that is not raised enough in the House. The Seanad needs to look at some kind of structured way of raising issues about local government.

Some time ago the Leader of the House organised a series of sittings dealing with European issues and these were addressed by Members of the European Parliament. I am not saying we should do that but we should keep up the link we have with local government and show that it is important to us as parliamentarians. Most Members started in politics as local county councillors. Perhaps the Minister might have some proposals in that regard.

Some councils have not kept up good communications with Members of the Oireachtas. My local council is not too bad. It held a meeting for us after I had contacted it a few times but it took a year to hold that meeting. There were follow up meetings last year and this year at which we were briefed by the council, so communication is relatively good. The council has a good website and we can access the meeting agendas and so forth. However, some local authorities are not as good. The Minister should pursue this and find out how local authorities are communicating with Members of the Oireachtas, if it is working and whether there is consistency throughout the country, as there should be.

I opposed waste charges but now that they are in place, some comments should be made. There should be a cap on increases in bin charges. This could be imposed in line with a mechanism such as the inflation rate or the consumer price index. Sometimes there are huge increases in charges. My local council has not increased the waste charges in the last couple of years but other councils have. There is huge inconsistency in the level of waste charges from county to county. Some councils have waivers while some do not. Some councils have privatised the services, others have not.

Some councils operate a pay-per-lift policy while others operate a pay-per-lift as well as a fixed charge. The fixed charge can be in the region of €200. I do not agree with this charge. There should be consistency in waste charges, caps on increases and a national waiver system. However, the fixed charge contradicts the approach we are supposed to apply, that is, the polluter pays principle. A spokesperson for the EU Commissioner for the environment spoke to the Forum on Europe a couple of years ago and he said a fixed charge is the worst type of charge from an environmental point of view. However, many councils operate fixed charges along with the pay-per-lift charge. The Minister should try to phase out these fixed charges while ensuring the pay-per-lift charges are fair.

There is also a need for the Government to provide a national recycling infrastructure. South Dublin County Council exports most of the waste collected in the green bins. There is no way to monitor what happens to that waste after export. I understand much of it is exported to Asian countries but I do not know what happens to it. Does the Minister know? Does he monitor where this waste goes? This is a costly way of dealing with the waste. It should be used in this country. If it is sustainable to recycle waste, we should be able to do it. We should have a recycling industry, re-introduce the recycling of glass and establish other industries involved in recycling waste. The Government must make the capital investment in that type of infrastructure.

The Government has provided funding for play facilities to be drawn down by local authorities. It is part of the national play policy and the funding comes through the National Children's Office. I welcome that Government initiative. The councils are drawing down the funding but my local council would not wish to spend any money on play facilities if it could get away with it. Before that money was available, the council was not doing anything. It is doing something now but what it does is minimalist. It does not wish to establish new facilities because it would have to maintain them.

The councils are drawing down that money but they are not implementing the plans as they should. Under the national play policy they are supposed to draw up a county play plan and a county play policy, and the money is to be spent in a structured way within that. However, they are not doing that. My local council does not have a county play officer, as it should have. The money should be provided as it is important to provide more play facilities but the Minister should ensure that local authorities embrace the policy enthusiastically and spend the money in a structured and well-planned way. In this way the authorities will realise that they are obliged to provide facilities for children and that it is an important part of their work.

It is important, too, that the local authorities realise their role in preventing crime. I attended a meeting on crime in my constituency this week. The main issues were anti-social behaviour and the lack of gardaí on the beat. However, people also said that the councils must do their job in terms of maintaining areas as this is intrinsically linked to crime prevention. This fits in with modern thinking on this issue.

I am a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights. This year the committee produced a report on community policing, which embraced what may be termed the "broken window" theory of policing. My local council had a policy of not fixing tenants' broken windows but if a broken window in a building is not dealt with by a local authority, as is often the case, that can lead to other anti-social behaviour in the area. It starts a downward spiral because other things happen as a result. Youths start hanging around the area and graffiti is painted on the building, which would not happen where the window was unbroken and the area was tidy. Then drug pushers start to hang around the area. If a council does not do its job in terms of fixing windows in its premises and tidying wasteland, the theory is that it is contributing to crime. It is a credible theory and has been taken on board by, for example, the Patton commission in the North. The local authorities have a role in that regard and the Minister should take it up with them.

The Minister should also ask councils to put more emphasis on providing housing for the elderly. This is linked to the issue of long-term care for the elderly. If there was more sheltered housing for the elderly, there would be less need for nursing homes. It is also a better way of dealing with long-term provision for the elderly. This is done in other countries, for example, the UK has far greater provision of housing and different housing options for the elderly. More must also be done for single men on housing waiting lists because they are greatly discriminated against, particularly separated men.