Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh, as ucht an deis a thabhairt dom an t-ábhar tábhachtach seo a árdú ar an Athló. I thank you, a Chathaoirligh, for allowing me to raise this matter and I thank the Minister for being present. This is an issue that has an impact countrywide and I wish to highlight one example. I am talking about municipal authorities, in effect, town councils, that own land and property which in many cases is very much associated with a specific town. In Kells, County Meath, between 300 and 350 acres of land is owned by the town council. It is widely considered by the people to be held in trust for the people of the town of Kells. The land incorporates the people's park at Lloyd, hundreds of acres of agricultural land, and Kells business park. Over the years, businesses were attracted to the town through its ownership of this land. I believe more than 1,000 people are employed in that part of the town. There is great affection in the town of Kells for this land. It was originally bequeathed to the town from the Headfort estate.

As I understand from the Local Government Bill 2013, the land that town councils own, such as the lands in Lloyd in Kells, will be transferred to the county council which will have the reserved function of selling it, a function currently reserved for the town council. There are nine town councillors in Kells with a say on this and they are accountable to the people of Kells, but under the Minister's plans, the Kells municipal authority, which covers a much greater area than the town, will have seven members out of a total of 40. The fear is that this land could be sold from under the feet of the people of Kells by a vote of councillors predominantly from other areas. It is a significant asset and worth a substantial amount of money, but I do not think the people of Kells are interested in the money. They are interested in maintaining it and achieving a positive solution to it, but I do not think that positive solution is to give the power of sale to the county council.

I have spoken to my colleagues who are members of Kells Town Council - Councillors Bryan Reilly, Sean Drew and Frankie Lynch - as well as members of my party cumann, and they are very concerned about this. I have also spoken to senior officials in Meath County Council and they have concerns as well. They would like to see something done. Some proposals have been put forward, such as putting the land into some type of trust arrangement. There are complications with that, but anything other than financial issues can be overcome. It might be an option to transfer it to the county council in advance of the legislation, but there may be stamp duty issues with that. I do not know if the Minister can provide any comfort on this. I call on him to liaise with the council, the councillors and the people of Kells to ensure this land is protected and not simply handed over to the county council, because it is a valuable asset. Some kind of trust or other protection needs to be put in place in conjunction with the Department and the local authorities. This issue has not arisen much yet, but I am sure there are other examples of municipally held land over which people do not wish to see councillors from another end of a large county having the power of sale.