Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I support the Bill and its aims. It is about transparency in Government. It is about accountability, an issue that is very prevalent this week. Accountability has to start at the very base of democracy, and the front line of democracy is at local authority level. We are not asking for anything huge in terms of issues such as response times, but as there has to be a response, why not set a target and why not meet it? Why not have an obligation that elected members would get a comprehensive response to queries they make on behalf of their constituents, who are the citizens?

What the Government is saying is it is not putting in place any targets and does not want to put any obligation on local authorities or civil servants to come back to elected members within a reasonable time. If the Government feels the timing is not reasonable, it is welcome to table amendments and we can debate them here. As for any idea of putting this down for another report, along with other reports that have been promised, reports do not do anything and guidelines do not do anything. Legislation would mean obligations on local authorities, and the people who are paid by the taxpayer to deliver services on their behalf, to give timely responses. Local authorities were forced under planning law to give responses within eight weeks and then a further four weeks, because they were not giving responses. There was no end to a planning application until the law set down a set amount of time by which responses had to be given. That changed the system. People could plan and would know what they would face in terms of an application. They had a reasonable expectation that there was a timeline within which the local authority had to respond to a planning application.

What we are doing with the Bill is expanding this concept, which was earth-shattering at the time, so that local authorities would now have to do the same. We have done this in the Dáil and we do it here. A question is answered for a Deputy within three working days, and it is the same here with a Commencement matter. We are taking the requirement for a response time from local authorities with regard to planning issues, and the requirement at national level in the Dáil and Seanad where a response time is required for elected members, and we are bringing it to local authority level for all issues raised by members that are covered by the legislation, and we are introducing a statutory code for this, including a requirement to reply and a timeline. This is very reasonable and we need to ensure it is done and put in legislation so local authorities are accountable to the democratically elected people and to the citizens who put the councillors in place to represent them and their views.