Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The issue of whether this works is very important. How we actually gauge and measure that is something we have to look at from the point of view of issues pertaining to both the city and the county. That is very important. Funding is going to be a key issue here. It will be a key issue to ensuring that we have a viable county and a prosperous city. The old system had its faults. We had two golden miles around the city in which we collected the rates. Then we could put roads and infrastructure in places like Goleen so the Minister's relations could have roads. That will not be the new system. We will now have a compensation package paid over a period of years. The amount will be determined and it will probably dry up after ten years.We then need to see how a county of that size and nature would survive, as the Minister of State explained quite eloquently when he talked about Paddy Sheehan leaving Goleen and going to Mitchelstown, without having a significant industrial base around it as we had around Cork city, which helped the county to survive. A review process or process of that nature is something that the Minister of State might consider. If there was a situation where the financial impact of this was so severe that, after a few years, the counties did not have enough money to survive, we need to look at that. Where will local government and the Minister of State's Department fit? That will be a significant issue.

The Leader said it is about services, and it is. It is about services in the city to ensure that it will grow. Cork needs a strong, vibrant, passionate city that can increase the wealth and prosperity of the entire county. We need to have assurances in the county that it can survive without having the base that is currently there. Those are real, significant issues and we are trying to get clarity. This review might be a mechanism to ensure that we can address it. There is genuine concern. If one was to go to the other end of my constituency, from Youghal to Castletownbere, a significant part of the world three hours away, one could have gone to Dublin and back from where the Minister of State lives. That is the significance of the geographic impediment. We need to work on the lack of that review and how we will fund it.

While it does not relate to local government, in Cork, we are not allowed to get IDA Ireland money because it believes we do not have economic need. This presents us with a different dilemma within the county because the wealthy areas in the city are included in the county. Should we be looking for a fund for the county so we can develop, press forward, achieve our goals and become a real driver of the biggest rural local authority in the country? Cork County Council will become the biggest rural local authority and we need a different emphasis on the county. There is a different challenge for management and councillors to ensure that it has the influence to protect local towns and drive local industries but national Government needs to play its part. Local government needs to support it and that is why a review might be helpful. We need to ensure that Cork gets the attention it requires from such entities as IDA Ireland, because if it does not, the city will thrive but the county might not and that would be a major issue.