Kevin Humphreys (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive contribution, which is of great interest. Everybody is trying to achieve a proper regional structure. As part of that, we need a democratic and answerable structure which is not necessarily there within the region. I am only raising this with the Minister of State now because he raised it. The ratio of elected members to the number of people who inhabit an area is grossly unequal. For example, Fingal has 92,000 people per member of the regional authority. I would like to hear the Minister of State give a commitment to rebalance the democratic structure in this regard at some stage.

The NPF targets are welcome but the metropolitan area strategic plans for the four local authorities in Dublin will be drawn up by a 38-member regional assembly. As a result, the vote from Longford will be equal to that from Dublin, even though we are dealing with a metropolitan area strategic plan. There is an enormous democratic deficit in that regard in light of the fact that 60% of the inhabitants within the four Dublin local authority areas will only have 47% of the representation.

Within local authorities in the past, we have seen coalitions of different people voting for different plans, resulting in no democratic answerability. There are four local authorities and three metropolitan area strategic plans. I have tabled an amendment to rebalance the position. In light of what the Minister of State said, can we take a serious look at the democratic deficit in the regional assemblies, especially within the area of which I have experience? I was a member of Dublin City Council from 1999 and I served on the regional assembly.