Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator. The suggestion he made there is very useful. It would be a really useful exercise for the housing committee to have a look at this and at the overall funding of local government in general. We have a significant challenge. As the Senator rightly said, our local authorities are ambitious both at corporate level and among the elected members.They show real innovation - often in the face of dwindling resources - yet they cannot continually rely on car parking charges or development contributions, which are not sustainable sources of funding. We are trying to decouple them and move towards sustainability. If we look at possibilities around public banking and local authorities being involved in that or developing energy supply companies, we can see there are opportunities there on which local authorities in other European countries have been leading. We should look at all options given the challenges we face and the opportunities, particularly around climate action, biodiversity and all various aspects of local authorities' work, which is expanding. The work rate is expanding and yet the funding sources are challenging. The Department will continue to work with local authorities. The Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, is deeply committed to doing that but it is important to consider all sources.