Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is not rectifying it, he is just abolishing the whole thing. It is rather like trying to abolish the Seanad. The idea that reform means dismantling the process and replacing it with nothing is totally misguided from the point of view of local government. If anything, the economic collapse of the past five years has taught us that our political system is not up to meeting the challenges of these difficulties when they come along. There were dissenting voices in this House and within the Dáil, where all the parties, including those in Opposition, complained that not enough money was being spent, that public expenditure was not high enough, that salaries and social welfare and everything else should have been increased. The mind-set is that everybody follows the herd. Unfortunately, what we are doing here will remove voices from the system which were very accountable at local level, particularly through urban councils. That will be a significant reduction in our democratic structures.

Does it make sense that town councils operate like islands, separate from their wider hinterlands? There is a thrust towards urbanisation in our society. These growing urban areas will be part of a conglomerate county council which will not be as effective. The Minister pointed out yesterday, they will deal exclusively with policy. Most of the representations that the Minister and other Members of these Houses receive are not about policy but about the delivery of services and in many instances the failure to deliver services satisfactorily to citizens. That is why we have such a strong representative role within these Houses.

Does it serve a purpose that some town councils, which owe their existence to 160 year old legislation, have virtually no functions? It does not. That goes back to the old town commissioner situation, which could also easily have been rectified by giving those town commissions the same status and powers as town and urban district councils. There is also a reference to transferring territory and resources from the county council to the town, thereby weakening the county councils. That is not the case. The growth in infrastructure in County Louth shows how dynamic that council is. It has two very strong municipal areas, Dundalk and Drogheda, both of which have greater revenues and more developmental roles than Louth County Council but that did not stop all three from functioning properly and effectively in the interests of their towns and county. The premise for this legislation has not been fully thought through. I am particularly surprised at the Minister because Kilkenny in particular has a town of historic significance-----