Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

I will address the matter of water presently. The blueprint for this co-operation, the CDB strategy for the economic, social and cultural development of each county and city, represents a major improvement and has operated with success on the ground.

The issue of social inclusion is related to community development. Practical measures have been taken to ensure that community consultation is not a token exercise. A community and voluntary forum was established in each city and county to facilitate a structured input into the business of local authorities, the success of which indicates the flexibility of the Irish model of local government.

The motion before us makes specific reference to the Water Services Investment Programme for 2005 to 2007. The Government has invested significant resources into the water services sector in recent times and this is set to continue. Record levels of funding have been provided for new and upgraded water and waste water infrastructure under the current national development plan. The programme, which I published last December, contains 899 individual schemes with a total value of €5.1 billion. The schedule of scheme starts for this year and for 2007 is the most ambitious ever.

The additional capacity produced by successive water services investment programmes has made a direct and substantial contribution to strengthening economic performance by facilitating industrial and residential development. Among the benefits arising from this investment is a compliance rate of over 90% with the stringent standards of the EU urban waste water treatment directive and all remaining schemes needed to achieve full compliance with the requirements of the directive are included in the programme. There has been a reduction of some 45,000 tonnes per annum in the pollutant load to our rivers, lakes and sea waters from municipal treatment systems and the additional waste water treatment capacity generated is sufficient to service a population of more than 3 million. These figures demonstrate the amount of benefit brought by local authorities with the funds provided by the Government.

Given the programme's pivotal role in supporting economic and social development, it is essential that the most efficient procedures are in place to ensure that water services infrastructure provision can continue to anticipate and respond effectively to demand for new or improved services. Against that background, I recently introduced new administrative procedures to streamline the advancement of individual water and sewerage schemes.

I acknowledge the comments made by Members of both Houses on the need for less bureaucracy and have introduced new procedures drawn up in consultation with local authorities under which individual schemes with a value of less than €5 million may, following preliminary approval by my Department, proceed to construction without further reference to the Department.

This reduces from four to two the number of stages in project design and development and should speed up delivery, particularly in smaller schemes.

Senator Kitt mentioned the bundling of some schemes. Bundling is determined in the schemes as they come up and I have told local authorities that if it is efficient to de-bundle or re-bundle schemes, they should do that. I want to see these schemes delivered on time and in the most cost effective way. I am confident that devolving greater responsibilities to the local authorities and streamlining the administrative process will, as well as strengthening the local government system and providing the resources, lead to remarkable delivery on the water services investment programme.

Shared service provision is another area being dealt with by IBEC and other commercial interest groups and it has been promoted in discussions I have had with the chambers of commerce. The Government acknowledges that sharing services locally or on a regional basis can produce economies of scale and offer better quality service. A significant level of co-operation exists between local authorities at town, county and regional levels and this approach should be enhanced and rolled out. Local authorities work closely together on the production of intercounty planning strategies and a range of other issues. A key objective of the local government reform programme has been the delivery of co-ordinated and integrated services for local authorities. There is no doubt that bringing together regional services leads to greater efficiency.

While local authorities have implemented great changes in recent years, much remains to be done. Local authorities have not neglected value for money in the past but there have been changes in the local government accounting system that will lead to greater value for money in the future. I intend to build on the progress made and to ensure that the value for money agenda continues to be at centre stage in all local authority activities and business. For example, the Department has begun work on the development of a common costing system for the sector to provide improved management information on the cost of delivering individual services. By doing this, the taxpayer, the business community, the householder and the local authority member will have a better basis for making comparisons and knowing if an individual local authority is good, bad or indifferent. An initiative that will be of particular interest to Seanad Members will be rolled out over the next few weeks to make more information available to councillors and to the public about the financial status of local authorities. When I spoke to council members late last year, many of them did not know how much money had been collected in development contributions. Those figures will be made available.

I will shortly publish the independent report on local government financing, commissioned by the Department during 2004, and will be pursuing with local authorities the implementation of appropriate recommendations to achieve further efficiencies in the sector, including greater sharing of services.

Serving the customer better is a key theme on which local government is delivering. I have mentioned only one area, namely, on-line motor tax. There has been a huge uptake of this immensely efficient and cost effective measure. It delivers savings to local authorities and means people do not have to queue for hours to re-tax their cars. That model can be rolled out elsewhere.

Local government's continuing commitment to customer service was further illustrated by the publication last year by the Local Government Management Services Board of the first report on local authority service indicators. These are being worked on now for the year ahead — we will publish them later in the year and I will welcome a debate in this House on them. Last year they were published for the first time, they were novel, but they gave an objective basis for making comparisons between the performances of local authorities. It is important for the credibility of the local government system that the service indicator initiative is subject to appropriate quality assurance.

It is important to record the Government's appreciation of the significant contribution which local government has made to the economic and social development of Ireland over the past decade. This has been facilitated by the substantial resources which the Government has devoted to local government and the change programme which continues to be rolled out in partnership with it. I am satisfied that the structures, finances, policies and programmes are in place to ensure that local government continues to successfully meet the challenges it faces and to deliver the customer-oriented local service we all want to see.