Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will raise two issues. I support the Order of Business. I acknowledge the Government's announcement of the circular economy Bill. It is excellent legislation that takes on board concerns raised when we discussed Senator Malcolm Byrne's Bill. I acknowledge the work of the Senator. Most of that has been embedded into the Bill. The Minister of State with responsibility for the circular economy, Deputy Ossian Smyth, represents Dún Laoghaire, where I live. I acknowledge the work of Senator Malcolm Byrne and that of the Minister of State in addressing what needs to be done. I had major concerns about the data issue. The Bill contains a number of provisions, including general data protection regulation-compliant uses of technology such as CCTV for waste management. It will be a good Bill. I am supportive of what I have seen and read about it.

It is timely that we have a debate about local government, especially accountability, transparency and, ultimately, sanctions. Everyone who may have been involved in or watched "RTÉ Investigates" this day last week was horrified by some of the issues raised. Much of that was not new. It had already come through the auditing systems. There were not many freedom of information requests to the Department about it. There were active individual councillors who engaged in that programme. I pay tribute to them. It is not always easy to challenge one's own chief executive and audit committee. RTÉ did a service, as did many councillors who participated, publicly and privately, in that investigation. What was exposed was nothing short of a disgrace. That is not good enough. We need to look at it again and to learn from that experience.

My takeaway from "RTÉ Investigates" was that there were serious breaches of corporate governance in some of these local authorities. People knew what happened. I think of Mayo and what happened there. I find it hard to believe that people did not know a road, bridge and infrastructure were in place, and that people could sign off on public funding. Where did the pressure come from? Was it political? Did it come from central Government or from the Houses of the Oireachtas? Who pressured whom to make false declarations? That is what is being alleged. I seek a debate on this. It is about transparency, good governance in local authorities and accountability. The public now want sanctions for people who breach corporate governance in local authorities. At some stage, whenever time permits, we should have a focused debate and statements on local government, particularly with regard to governance and auditing of local government.