Camillus Glynn (Fianna Fail)

Ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh an tAire go dtí an Teach. I welcome the Bill which gives effect to a budgetary measure announced by the Government last October. Any legislation or measure which devolves the power to local authority members to raise additional finance by way of reserve function is welcome. I have long advocated this measure and I have not changed my mind on the matter. Many local authority members, local authorities and associated organisations, including my nominating body, the Association of Municipal Authorities of Ireland, the Association of County and City Councils and the Local Authority Members Association have long advocated devolving more power to local authority members and local government. However, it must be borne in mind if one is dependent on the Minister to allocate more money, one is depending on a broken stick because the Minister has much to do with money. I say as much with due respect to the Minister, Deputy Gormley. If local government is to be able to stand alone then it must stand on its own two feet in so far as it is possible.

We have seen the erosion of the funding base of local authorities throughout the years. I recall the early 1970s, during which the coalition of the Labour Party and Fine Gael started the abolition of rates, followed by the Fianna Fáil Government of 1977 which abolished them totally, an outrageous and bad decision all around for which we are still paying. This is the first real opportunity for local authorities to raise money apart from the Local Government (Financial Provisions)(No. 2) Act 1983 which introduced local charges. This is another way for local authorities and local authority members to get money to spend on functions. The Local Government (Charges) Bill 2009 has been introduced to give legal effect to the measures in the budget. The €200 charge will apply to the owners of residential rental property, holiday homes and vacant properties unless the vacant property is newly constructed but unsold. Let us pause here for a moment. I do not regard the Minister's decision to row back on the charge for mobile homes as a U-turn. Any legislation published will always be subject to scrutiny. This is one of the reasons legislation is first published and the process then involves five stages to ensure mistakes are identified and corrected. Perhaps the mistake this time is a mistake with a small "m" or a large "M". It depends from where one is coming.

One of my pet aversions is derelict properties. If one travels down the main street of any town or city one will see properties vacant for the longest time. When a local authority applies pressure under the Derelict Sites Act, lo and behold a planning application is made. Is such a planning application given effect in many cases? The answer is "No". I welcome this measure. In the case of vacant properties which have been allowed to become derelict by their owners a fine of €200 is not sufficient. These properties are a blight and an eyesore on the streetscapes of many villages, towns and cities and it is wrong that this is allowed happen. This provision is a small step forward in resolving that problem but in my view the measure should be stronger. I suggest there should be stronger legislative measures to eliminate this type of disregard practised by many property owners in our towns, cities and villages and even in the countryside.

The law is the law, whether we like it or not. It should be mandatory for property owners to register, just as we are all obliged to pay car tax in the motor taxation offices or any other service charges payable in the finance office of the relevant local authority. I do not see any reason why this cannot be done. This provision will give members more money to spend under reserved functions.

I refer to the Minister's contribution in which he states, "For reasons of efficiency, the smaller urban authorities that are rating authorities - those that levy and collect commercial rates - will not be involved in this exercise." I say to the Minister that they should be. I could cite many examples of small town councils but I will not name them as I would leave out too many. It was the very same when the policing committees were initiated and it was decided that town councils were not to be involved. I remind the Minister that most crime is committed in towns and cities. The Minister show row back on his decision and he should devolve to the town councils that are rating authorities the power to collect this levy.

I refer, for example, to Bray which has a larger population than at least two counties. Tralee has a 12-seat town council as has Dundalk. Does the Minister propose that these towns will not be involved in this process? I consider that to be wrong and I ask the Minister to look again at this proposal with a view to correcting it.

The Minister referred in his speech to the Green Paper and I welcome his statement:

The Green Paper addressed a number of issues, including a proper balance of power at local levels between the managers and elected representatives, directly elected mayors, establishing town councils in towns that have displayed significant population growth, quality customer service and expenditure limits at local elections.

In my view the creation of new town councils is a must. While the non-rating town councils might not have a lot of powers - I ask the Minister to address this point in whatever way he can - nevertheless, they have an elected voice, an elected forum and they identify many issues that need to be identified. Some Members of this House would say that town councils should be abolished. If this is the case, it is amazing and we have come a long way. We fought hard for democracy and now there are people in elected positions advocating its abolition. This is hard to credit but it is true.

The Minister will be aware that many county councillors work full-time as councillors because it is a full-time job. Not only county borough councillors but also even some town councillors work full-time. In one local electoral area of County Westmeath, one councillor out of five works full-time in another job and all the others work full-time as councillors because they realise and appreciate that it takes all of their time and not just part of it. In that context, I feel obliged to relate to the Minister the concerns of councillors. In this time of shortage and recession we all know that everybody has to do his or her bit but many councillors depend on their income from the local authority. I ask the Minister to stay his hand from being too hard on them with regard to their income and training seminars and I make no apology for saying so. Local government membership is ever-evolving and the knowledge required is also ever-evolving. The real learning process for any representative is the interaction with other locally elected members. The only means of doing this is by attending training seminars.

I welcome this measure which has been long awaited and I hope it will be successful for the Minister. I ask him to reconsider the decision not to include the rating town councils in this process as there are very practical reasons they should be included. From my knowledge of small local authorities and urban authorities, they are extremely efficient and they do a marvellous job.