Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Senator Buttimer referred to council and local government assets, an issue that is central to different parts of this Bill. We know from the reports of the Local Government Audit Service, which are published online, that virtually none of the 31 local authorities has a definitive, clear asset management system in place. That is one of the great anomalies in local government, which holds loads of public land. The issue is part of Rebuilding Ireland. I am involved in the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government and we know there is no definitive base. I read a number of the Local Government Audit Service reports for 2017, all of which, with the exception of one or two, were published and circulated in recent weeks. I have taken the trouble to go through them and to contact the councils audited to suggest questions to be raised with their chief executives.

We talked about accountability and transparency at great length last night but we also have a responsibility to protect the asset base of citizens. That ties in with good corporate governance and the administration of the local authorities. The Minister of State should have his officials advise him as to the status of the asset bases of Cork city and county and Galway city and county. We cannot proceed if we do not even know what assets are involved. Major difficulties arose when we sought to get some handle on the properties available to deliver Rebuilding Ireland. That is a key issue. If I were doing due diligence on a company, I would want to know about its liabilities, assets and future sources of funding. There are problems in that regard. It is up to the Minister of State's senior advisers to advise him as to the status of the assets of these local authorities.