Martin Conway (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Cannon, to the House.

John Kelly (Labour)
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While I know the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan, wanted to take this matter, he has probably provided a comprehensive answer to some of the issues I intend to raise. It pertains to the Gateway to Work project, which was meant to be rolled out last autumn, but I am unsure whether that has actually happened. If so, has it been rolled out in some but not all counties, and if that is the case, in how many counties has it been rolled out? Personally, I have always campaigned for increasing the numbers that should be brought into community employment schemes, as many long-term unemployed people would be delighted with the opportunity to get something that resembles a return to work. I also wish to ascertain whether an allocation of funding will be given. Apart from the employment of such people on community employment schemes, will funding be provided for equipment, materials or whatever? The training and experience provided will be invaluable to these people.

The Minister of State is also aware that many jobs that were undertaken by local authorities down through the years have been neglected due to the reduction in staff. Many such jobs, such as hedge-trimming or the opening of water run-offs on regional and country roads to alleviate flooding, have not happened to the degree that many communities would wish. Such activities could be carried out under the scheme even without the use of anything mechanical. Under the auspices of village enhancement schemes, activities such as the restoration of walls and so on are projects with which people would be delighted. In addition, the blight of litter must of course be dealt with. However, will health and safety considerations be paramount in the implementation of any such scheme? This is evident when one travels on the motorways where, if someone is cutting a hedge, approximately five vehicles are deployed to support that activity. Will such considerations hamper this activity in any way?

I wish to make one final point to the Minister of State. While I had been looking forward to having the Minister, Deputy Hogan, address this matter, the Minister of State should bring it back to him. Many people are still hopeful that at some time in the future the social employment schemes that were operated by the county councils will come back into play. Under such schemes, people worked a 40-hour week, for which they received a decent week's wages. Could the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government give consideration to taking on people under the JobsPlus scheme, in which half of the social welfare payment is paid to an employer to employ someone? This scheme could be used to employ people for two years with a decent-sized wage.

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Kelly for raising this matter. As the Senator is aware, general purpose grants from the Local Government Fund are the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government's contribution towards meeting the cost to local authorities of providing a reasonable level of services to their customers. However, it is a matter for each local authority to determine its own spending priorities, including on environmental functions in the context of the annual budgetary process, having regard to both locally identified needs and available resources. The elected members of a local authority have direct responsibility in law for all reserved functions of the authority, which includes adopting the annual budget, and are democratically accountable for all expenditure by the local authority.

In determining these grants, a number of factors are taken into account, including the overall funding available, the estimated cost to each authority of providing a reasonable level of services to their customers, the income each authority should generate from local sources and the necessity of providing each authority with a baseline allocation that supports its financial stability. The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government also provides funding to local authorities for environmental purposes through the environment fund, and income to that fund derives from the proceeds of the environmental levy on the supply of plastic bags and on waste that goes to landfill. The purposes for which payments may be made from the environment fund are set out in the Waste Management (Amendment) Act 2001 and include a range of purposes for the protection of the environment. According to the most recently published environment fund accounts, which are for 2012, local authorities received approximately one third of total expenditure from the fund in that year - that is, €23.5 million of the €70.7 million that was spent by local authorities from the fund.

It is worth noting that the local government funding model will change considerably in 2014. Under the Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012, commencing this year, the Minister for Finance will pay into the local government fund an amount equivalent to the local property tax paid into the Central Fund during that year. This revenue will be allocated to local authorities from the fund. The local property tax will provide a more sustainable and resilient system of funding for local authorities and therefore a sounder financial footing for the provision of essential local services.

In respect of the staffing of local authorities, each city or county manager is responsible for the staffing and organisational arrangements necessary for carrying out the functions of the local authorities for which he or she is responsible. Current recruitment and promotion in the public service is subject to a moratorium, which was introduced in March 2009 in response to the financial crisis. It is a matter for city and county managers, in the first instance, to ensure that the moratorium is implemented while appropriate service levels are maintained. Exceptions to the moratorium in local authorities require sanction from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and all staffing sanction requests are examined by that Department on a case-by-case basis, having due regard to the continued delivery of key services in the context of staffing and budgetary constraints. However, the Departments of Social Protection and the Environment, Community and Local Government are currently engaged in the implementation of a new labour activation initiative through local authorities, and the Minister, Deputy Hogan, expects that 3,000 places will be taken up in 2014 by participants through the offices of the Department of Social Protection for work to be done in each local authority. This is an opportunity for Roscommon County Council and all local authorities to prioritise this programme and to set out the work programme that can be done using this initiative.