Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There is a difference between a person saying that he or she believes in more power for local councillors and extending that power to them, or even worse, taking it away. Sinn Féin has consistently highlighted that the Bill - both Fine Gael's original version and now Fianna Fáil's proposal with the support of Fine Gael - will remove power from local elected councillors in regard to land transfers, and that these flaws, among others, are why we cannot support it. It will curtail the democratic oversight of elected members in regard to the disposal of land.

We have one of the most centralised governments in Europe. Whether in the context of water or waste, power has consistently been taken away from local authorities, with our council buildings and county halls having been hollowed out continually over decades. The LDA will be unaccountable to local public representatives. It can deal with council officials without the oversight of public representatives. If we are republicans, which I suspect most Senators would say they are, we should stand for decisions that are made as closely as possible to people and communities. In Ireland, what is good for Donegal is decided in Dublin, and what is good for Belfast is decided in London. I am a republican because I believe in decisions being made as closely as possible to the people they will affect. As I said, we are one of the most centralised states in Europe. Central government spends the highest proportion of total government spending of almost all EU countries. I have just checked the figures and the most recent year I can find is unfortunately 2014. In that year, local government spending as a proportion of total government spending was 9%.

I hate to break it to Senator Fitzpatrick, but Sinn Féin is not to blame for the failure of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to address the housing crisis. Blaming the Opposition is a desperate attempt to deflect from the housing policy failures of this Government, and previous Governments, which have had ten years to deal with the housing crisis. People see the Government parties are trying to deflect and shift the debate from their failures and our alternatives to fight over a series of council votes. Local government is manager-centred. We all know it; most of us have been there and experienced it at first hand. Let us not insult people's intelligence by saying we believe in more power for local authorities but then pass a Bill to remove council powers in respect of land transfers.