Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)

The last thing I or the Minister, Deputy Gormley, wish to do is to micro-manage local authorities. We want to give local authorities more powers and we want them to be proactive and do what is right in their individual locations. The fact that, according to the Senator, in one local authority everything is stalled because one person is on holiday represents everything that is wrong with local government. The Croke Park deal is all about change management and about ensuring the right number of people are in the right place, at the right time, making the right decisions.

If no notice is going out because one person is on holidays, surely change is needed within that local authority. It is up to the manager in question to manage his or her staff better. I have strong views on this issue. If a local authority, because of one member's absence, is incapable of reminding people of a charge that is due, then we are in need of substantial local authority reform. Within some other local authorities, e-mail or text message reminders are sent out. If paper reminders are cost effective, the local authority should send them out. It does not make sense for the Department to micro-manage every last aspect of a local authority's work from the Custom House. That does not represent good or effective local government and is not conducive to the taking of wise decisions by local authorities.