Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister primarily because any Minister who brings forward a significant body of legislation and manages to steer it through both Houses of the Oireachtas deserves at least some credit. I acknowledge this, but that is where my agreement and courtesy ends. We have opposed the Bill because we believe it is deeply flawed. We also believe there are question marks over the future development of local government in rural areas because many of its powers have been taken away and because of the drift of members from the west to the east. The Minister has said it remains for future Governments to decide how they might adapt or change the legislation and I hope that is something that will be looked at in order that that imbalance will be corrected.

I wish all candidates who are gearing up for election to county councils well and commiserate with the many hundreds of excellent town councillors who will find themselves out of work and a job in June as a result of the Government's proposals. In the context of the Minister's democratic aspirations which he has brought forward throughout the debate since he first initiated the legislation, when looks at comparisons between this country and similar countries, taking Denmark as an example, at local level it has town councils that have very real powers, yet this country which has already been criticised for having one of the most centralised administrations in central and western Europe now finds itself denuded of democracy at the very lowest level of the town council. I hope this will not be the Minister's legacy. I know it is not what he wants his legacy to be and hope it will not be that he took away democracy at local level.