Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tá mé tar éis ceisteanna a ardú maidir leis na húdaráis áitiúla agus an cineál maoirsiú a dhéantar orthu ó thaobh na Roinne de. I would like to raise the way the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government oversees local authorities. Since we debated the Putting People First strategy, which proposed to give extensive new powers to the CEOs of local authorities, it has come to my attention that there are irregularities in Galway City Council regarding the income from parking meters. I have been informed that the discrepancy could be to the tune of a couple of hundred thousand euro. I am concerned that even though this was apparently brought to the attention of senior management in Galway City Council over three years ago, we did not find out about it until now. Why has the whole thing been kept a secret? I have also been told that all the machines in Galway are out of action, which means badly needed money is being lost to Galway City Council. People constantly come to my office to say they have issues with housing and estate maintenance, etc., but when I contact Galway City Council, I am told no money is available for such matters. The broader question of the level of oversight of local authorities that is in place within the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government arises in this context. Is there is a flagging system that ensures the Minister and the Department, as the overseeing body through which the Government provides funding, are told when things like this are happening? Is a criminal investigation pending in this scenario? My understanding is that it involves a new parking system which was put in place a couple of years ago. I think it is worth raising these issues with the Minister. Perhaps that can be done in the context of the review of the implementation of the Putting People First strategy.

I thank those who were able to attend the presentation on the International Protection Act 2015, which took place in the audiovisual room yesterday. We were told that there are serious implementation issues with the 2015 Act. Many speakers at the presentation said there are huge problems with the provision of legal support services to people who are applying for asylum as a result of the introduction of a complicated new 30-page questionnaire. We were told that Google Translate has been used to translate the questionnaire in a manner that is nonsensical to native speakers of the various languages involved. It appears that the only aspects of the McMahon report that are being implemented are the prosecutorial elements. It seems that the positive elements of the report setting out the changes people need are not being implemented. We need an urgent debate on this matter because these current issues need to be addressed quickly.