Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On the same issue, on a recent trip with the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade to an Irish Aid programme in Malawi we were passing through a market in a rural area that was packed with people and all sorts of produce when some of the market traders came up to the windows of the minibus offering "Irish potatoes, Irish spuds" for sale. Apparently, Irish potatoes were introduced by Irish missionaries in the 19th century. I, therefore, concur with what Senator Jim D'Arcy had to say about potatoes.

I support the call made by Senator Paul Bradford for a debate on local government and concur with what he said. The trend to moving away from town councils to county councils which happened under the previous Minister is a mistake. We could get more value and more of an impact from local government if it was more closely associated with the people. In 2001 when the then Minister introduced the Bill, one of the options considered was having regional councils modelled on municipal or district areas feeding into a geographic region. For example, we could have a south-east regional council that would include subordinate municipal or district councils. We need a debate on this issue, but it must go beyond it and deal with the lack of empowerment of councillors. A review of the County Management Act is long overdue. The lodging of significant powers with an executive is never suitable to ensure proper democracy. We have the weakest local government system in Europe. Our system of government is highly centralised and we need greater devolution from the centre.

If possible, will the Minister for Finance attend the House next week for a pre-budget debate? I asked for such a debate previously. We need to debate issues such as inheritance tax, capital acquisition tax and USC. A meaningful debate would be helpful to the Minister in the final stages of refining his budgetary arrangements to be announced on 13 October. It would be a useful exercise for us and for him. I, therefore, ask the Leader to inform us whether such a debate can be arranged.