Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Given my limited speaking time, I wish to address one issue with the Taoiseach which is the issue of local government and the importance of giving powers back to councillors. We have had a situation over successive Governments, not this one or the one before that, where powers have been progressively stripped away from councillors over the past 20 years. We have disregarded the constitutional status of local government and have taken our trust out of it and put it into central government. The powers now vest in unelected and largely unaccountable officials at local level and in the Custom House. If we have anything to say about the principle of subsidiarity as it applies in a European context, and it should apply generally, it is that we should be reinvesting in our local government and in the councillors that we have who work very hard throughout the country and give them back those powers. These have been stripped away successively over a number of years. These powers range from planning to involvement in a whole range of other issues from water, to roads, budgets and all of the other factors. We have a very effective group of councillors around the country.We have an incredibly effective group of councillors around the country but, although I was pleased that we made steps towards removing the strategic housing development legislation last night, the central government and Legislature still need to make progress in that regard.