Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I formally second the motion. The Minister of State is very welcome to the House. I think this is my first time to address him since he was elevated as a Minister of State. I am very happy for him. He was a good local representative himself in his time.

We are talking about the erosion of power in local authorities and it is important that we put things in context at the very outset. I do not believe any government or Member of this House or the Lower House has any interest in disempowering local authorities, but what we do have is a Civil Service that is interested in disempowering local authorities and moving more and more decision-making into the Custom House and the like. It is no secret among my colleagues here that the Council of Europe regards the local authority system in Ireland as one of the weakest in Europe right now. Our representative bodies are LAMA and the AILG. We are elected by county councillors and, as such, they are our constituency and we should be supporting them. Quite frankly, they are extremely concerned about the disempowerment of local authorities and the sidelining of the people on the ground who have the first point of contact with citizens within the areas where they live.

As a result of an invitation from the Leader of the House and the Leas-Chathaoirleach we had local authority members in here from the regions who all made their points very strongly. There are a number of serious areas that my colleague has mentioned. The Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill is before the House. I know that is not the area of responsibility of the Minister of State but I ask him to engage with the Minister on it. It is outrageous to think that the power of local authority members would be reduced within policing authorities. I know we are moving to a new structure but the real people we need are those who are on the ground, who know what is happening and the individuals in the areas around them. The Minister of State will recall himself how the local authority played a huge part in cleaning up Limerick back in the bad old days when we had some pretty tough people in the town. Limerick has turned out to be a fantastic place since. In fact, it should be a model for cities and counties around the country for how we can tackle crime. It was done by local authority members, supported by Members of this House. I know that because I was involved with them at the time. I know the work the Minister of State put in and the work put in by local authority members. By disempowering them, first and foremost, we now find - I believe this is the case in the political parties, and while I cannot be sure I am told anecdotally - that people no longer want to run for or be involved in local authorities because they see no benefit to it.

I remember in 2014 when I first came into this House and I took on the issue of councillors' pay, a former colleague told me that we do not do that on the floor of the House, we do it quietly in the corridors. We do do it on the floor of the House. We tackle the difficult issues on the floor of the House and we should never be afraid to do that. The Minister of State and I have known each other a long time and I have never known him to be afraid to take on difficult issues. We need to stop the rot. We need to get behind local authority members.

In a very short time, even if the Government lasts for 15 months from now, we will be going back out to local authority members. Those who want to run for the Dáil will be looking for local authority members to get behind them and to get canvasses going in the various districts. There are some great people out there who will break their necks to help get people elected. I will spend the 90 days after that travelling the country and meeting every county councillor in the country. I will be able to do it with my head held high because I have never been shy about coming forward on the issues that concern them. I accept that the accusation that I was never a member of a local authority can be put against me, but I think my record will stand for itself when the time comes.