Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister and his officials for the way they handled this Bill in the Seanad. While I have been critical in part in regard to some of the shortcomings in the Bill, Fine Gael in principle supports its thrust and principles and we welcome the fact that it will create new revenue streams for local authorities. They are at present starved of resources and any way we can assist them to become more autonomous and to raise funds will help the delivery of local authority services on the ground. From that perspective, we welcome the Bill.

Fine Gael is disappointed its nursing home-related amendment was not accepted. We felt strongly about this, as was evident in the debate, where we identified that people in this category could be levied a charge. However, the Minister has undertaken to deal with this before the Bill goes to the Dáil. We oppose the Bill for that reason because we feel it is incomplete without the amendment. We also have concerns with the issue of data protection that arises from the terms of the Bill.

I wish the Minister well. For a short Bill, it is a complex one and it will have a deep effect on communities and people throughout the country. Hopefully, it will have a very positive effect for local authorities. I wish the Minister well in drafting the amendments he has undertaken to draft following identification of those issues by Senators from all sides of the House. I wish the Bill speedy passage for the remainder of its term in the Houses. We look forward to it coming back to the Seanad with reports on amendments adopted in the Dáil, which will complete the Bill and address the many issues of concern that Senators have raised in the House.

The Seanad has performed extraordinarily well in recent days in regard to the Bill. There has been deep engagement by Senators from all sides. We have carried out our functions to the best of our ability in analysing and scrutinising the Bill so it will, when it gets to local authority implementation stage, have the best effect for those local authorities it is meant to serve. I wish the Minister and the Bill well as it passes through the Oireachtas.