Denis Landy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for the many hours he has put into dealing with this legislation, not only in this House but in the past two years. He and I have had many discussions on this issue, following some of which we did not walk away shaking hands, but we certainly reached a position where we both believed we would see the local government system growing from this legislation.

There has been much talk during the debate about the inadequacies of this legislation, but this has been the largest piece of local government legislation in 100 years. This Minister has taken the local government structure by the scruff of the neck and shaken it up. What will land back on the ground remains to be seen in the next few years. It will take a number of years for the system to settle down following this new change.

I have expressed clearly my reservations regarding town councils. I respect that this is a democracy and accept what has happened within my party and the Government in general with regard to the abolition of town councils, but it is important that the local elected representative is the person who represents local people. Much play has been made of the involvement of community groups. At the end of the day, democracy is instrumental in governing the country and it is to the fore within this legislation.

I express my thanks to the three associations, the AMAI, the ACCC and the LAMA, for their continuous interest in, contributions to and submissions on the process, on which we started out almost two years ago and which is now coming to fruition. Like Senator Paschal Mooney, I wish all of the candidates who face elections on 22 May the best of luck. I only hope most of the same persons are returned because that would give all of us a good chance of being returned also.