David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

If the Minister takes one of these places, we will wish him well.

I must be honest in my interpretation, as the Minister will accept. I accept that we have had a good engagement. The Minister enjoys the cut and thrust of debate and we have had a good debate in this House on the Bill. At the same time, we must remain true to ourselves in what we have stated through Second, Committee and Report Stages. I have real concerns about the Bill. I do not believe the Minister is radically reforming the local government system at all. In fact, what I think he has done is missed a big opportunity to genuinely reform it. One of the core issues raised, if one goes back to the start of the debate on Second Stage, is that we have not devolved real powers from Departments to local government. We have not given it the powers it has in many other countries. What the Minister has done is rearrange the deck chairs. We are going down the same road the Government followed in the case of the Seanad, which was to reduce numbers. Under the Bill town councils will be abolished and the number of councils and councillors will be reduced; they will be given no real powers. There are also the concerns of the community and voluntary sector, the Leader programmes and councillors, especially town councillors, but there are concerns right across the board. The Minister has missed an opportunity, whcih is unfortunate. It will take a new Government involving parties which are genuinely committed to reforming local government to bring forward the type of local government system that I want to see, which is genuine, robust and has the power to deliver for communities to the extent that it should. I do not believe this Bill will do that.

The Minister will accept my honesty and sincerity. I cannot change how I feel.