Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the points the Senator made and I accept his frustration in that regard. In each of the Dublin local authorities and on Cork and Galway city councils, where area committees exist, decisions can be made in local areas but, as he pointed out, those decisions have to then be brought forward to the council for further discussion. He made his point well on subsidiarity. We know about area committees and recommendations in practice. No more than when a local matter is discussed at full council, councils tend to look to local area representatives for their views and that tends to inform the view. However, that leaves it open to issues where someone in the north of a county such as Kildare could vote a certain way against a decision that impacts people in the south of the county, and that would not be particularly fair.

I understand the concern the Senator has about bringing that back and I will bring back the points where he outlined how he feels it is not efficient. The response I have tells me there has been a lot of consultation and I take that on board but the system of local area committees is similar to municipal districts and provides for local issues to be addressed in an efficient and effective way. Any change to the operation of area committees must consider the type of directly elected mayor and local government structures best suited to Dublin and other cities in the future. I know that is not the response the Senator wants to hear and I know he believes those are two separate things but that is the point and I will bring back to the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, and the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, the views articulated today.