Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minster of State for the way in which he has addressed and outlined some of the issues. My key ask today concerns what the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe identified in its report. It was sent to Government. I happen to sit on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage, so I am familiar with some of the background in terms of the Department and these responses. I know it is not the Minister of State's direct Department but it would be helpful to have a written response or memo detailing the 12 outstanding issues. There were 20 issues and there was concern about 12 of them. I know the Minister of State is very supportive of local government, local democracy and subsidiarity. It is about more power for local government and its elected councillors. It is about the key principle of subsidiarity, which is really important. What I would like to see from this discussion is a more detailed response.

I was not aware the monitoring delegation was coming here on 14 November. That is welcome but it would be important to have a detailed response on those issues in advance. If there are misunderstandings regarding this report, all parties should be brought together to establish what is factually correct. The Minister of State pointed out some anomalies and concerns. It is important the congress understands the complexities of local government finance and how those decisions are arrived at.

I thank the Minister of State for coming in and ask that he request from the Department a memo on the issues in dispute so we can see how we can work together to make progress.