Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate my friend and constituency colleague on the report he has produced on suicide and I support his call for a debate on the issue.

I return to an issue I raised last week in the context of local authority funding. Not for the first time I expressed a concern shared across the House among those who have served in local councils that the road maintenance programme will be so starved of cash resources that all of the money poured into road infrastructure over the past 20 years will come under severe threat. However, the issue of local authority funding goes much deeper than that. At a meeting of Leitrim County Council yesterday evening, it was proposed that the disabled person's grant would be restored under the essential repairs section in order to provide showers, toilets and downstairs facilities for those who are eligible for the grant. The proposal was welcomed by all sides until the county manager advised that the amount of money proposed would result in a shortfall of more than one third, based on the existing applications. This happened in the same month in which the Government announced the reintroduction of the local improvement schemes for local authorities. This announcement was particularly welcome in rural Ireland. However, grants can only be introduced if the money allocated for road maintenance is shifted to local improvement schemes. I appreciate that the country is bust but we must not go below certain standards and benchmarks.

In the Sunday Independenton Sunday Colm McCarthy, despite the fact that he is against any increase in the capital programme - he made a very cogent argument as to why - conceded that there was a need for a continuation of resources for local authorities, particularly in the infrastructure area, to ensure essential maintenance, at least, was carried out. I know the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government is due to come to the House to deal with the Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill, but I would like to see a separate debate on local authority funding, before Easter, if possible. Either the Minister or a Minister of State could come to the House to deal with that issue. It would be an opportunity for Members on all sides of the House to give an opinion on their experiences in their local authority areas in order that we can build some momentum to try to ensure that come the next budget and the discussion on the Estimates, there will be an increase and an improvement in local authority funding.